A Crisis Like No Other? Anti-Americanism at the Time of the Iraq War.

This article tests a series of hypotheses that probe whether the crisis over Iraq has profoundly altered the popular perceptions of the United States abroad. Using survey data from Britain, France, Germany and Russia, this article shows that attitudes towards the United States were primarily shaped by the approval of President George W. Bush and of the American people themselves. More specific misgivings about the use of US power in the world entered into the cognitive calculus only as secondary factors. For substantial portions of the mass publics a dim view of the American people overshadowed all other considerations in the formation of a negative view of the United States. This finding suggests that a change of US administration would not be sufficient per se to alter popular attitudes towards the United States. For that to occur, views of the American people would have to improve as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]