Finnish suspicions of USA arise again

Bush also opposed in other countries

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By Pekka Mykkänen
     
      Finns are not alone in the world in their hope that John Kerry would topple George W. Bush in the elections on November 2nd.
      In a global poll published recently, there were majorities in favour of a Kerry victory in 30 out of 33 countries surveyed.
      According to the survey published by GlobeScan at the end of the summer, Kerry got his greatest support in Norway and Germany, where 74% said that they favoured the Democrat challenger. If the recent survey conducted in Finland for Helsingin Sanomat were comparable, Finns would be the third-most ardent supporters of Kerry, with 71% backing him.
     
Finnish attitudes toward the USA have provided much interesting food for thought. According to the Eurobarometer which came out in November 2003, Finns saw the United States as the greatest threat to world peace. A similar result emerged from three other EU countries.
      When Finns were asked in a Gallup International survey in January 2003 if Finland should support the United States in the impending war in Iraq, only five percent of respondents said Yes. The figure was among the lowest in the survey, which covered 40 countries.
      The same research institute conducted another survey five months and one Iraq war later. At that time 52% of Finns believed that the world had become a more dangerous place after the US anti-terrorist military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
      In a survey released in May 2003, Finns were not especially pessimistic compared with other countries, but the results showed another phenomenon which caused some wonder: 49% of Finns felt that US foreign policy has no effect on Finns. This kind of thinking is also reflected in the most recent survey.
     
In the spring of 2003, 56% of Finns said that the war in Iraq had changed their attitudes toward the United States in a more negative direction. Now 64% say that their perception of the United States is more negative because of President Bush.
      Support for NATO membership is also one kind of yardstick of attitudes toward the United States. Opinion polls have shown that only about one-fifth of Finns are in favour of joining the alliance.
      Opinion in other countries have had hardly any effect on the Americans themselves. According to opinion polls released this week, Bush leads Kerry by a 6 to 10-point margin, and he has every possibility of remaining the occupant of the White House until early 2009.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.10.2004

More on this subject:
 Celsius 11.9
 Bush barely gets a passing grade from Finns

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns overwhelmingly prefer Kerry over Bush - US foreign policy panned (1.10.2004)

PEKKA MYKKÄNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
pekka.mykkanen@hs.fi