March 24, 2003	Monday	Muharram 20, 1424

PARIS: An opinion poll published here on Sunday says that 84 per cent of the French have a “bad opinion” of US President George W. Bush, while only 14 per cent hold him in an high esteem. Two per cent said they had no opinion.

Also badly viewed by the French are British Prime Minister Tony Blair (75 per cent against, 22 per cent for) and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi (65 per cent, 20 per cent for).

Surprisingly the reaction to Spain’s Jose Maria Aznar was much more muted, with only 55 per cent of respondents with a negative vote.

Correspondingly, the same IFOP (Institut francais d’opinion publique) opinion poll had French President Jacques Chirac soaring to an 85 per cent positive score, with only 15 per cent of the French saying they had a “bad” opinion of the French president. He was, moreover, the only political figure in the poll to have no respondents saying they didn’t have an opinion.

The same poll also revealed that a majority of the French appeared to agree with President Chirac when he intimated that he feared the US decision to invade Iraq would have long-term consequences on the Arab world and the Middle East.

Queried as to which of the “eventual” consequences of the war they feared, 54 per cent said that they were most concerned about “a durable conflict between the Muslim world and the West.”