MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentines with poor opinion of US and Bush

A vast majority of Argentines, 61% do not think highly of the United States, according to a public opinion poll published Sunday in the Buenos Aires Pagina/12 newspaper.

The daily said Argentines' views towards the US had changed dramatically in the past six years.

In 1998, when Carlos Menem was president, one in three considered the United States to be "Argentina's best friend". Argentines' views on the United States were extracted from a larger opinion poll, called Latino-barometro, conducted regularly in 18 countries. The poll found that 22% of the 1,200 Argentines surveyed

had a "very poor" opinion and 39% have a "poor" opinion of the United States, while 8% expressed no opinion. Only 4% of interviews said their opinion of the United States was "very good," while 27% said it was "good". The least favourable positions were among university-educated Argentines, with 75% stating they have a "poor or very poor opinion" of the United States.

Additionally 92% of those surveyed said they disagreed or strongly disagreed, with U.S. actions in Iraq, and 90% said they disagreed with the way the country led by President George W. Bush "is handling world conflicts".