WASHINGTON: America’s global image has deteriorated sharply in the past two years, and US citizens’ views on key world issues differ markedly from public attitudes in much of the rest of the world, a landmark study of public opinion in 44 nations concludes.

While a strong reserve of good will toward the United States remains, and majorities in 35 countries say they support the US-led war on terrorism, the percentage of people reporting a favourable opinion of the United States has fallen in 20 of 27 nations where benchmark data is available, according to the study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Anti-American sentiment in most Muslim nations is profound. But the study revealed growing discontent, especially in the nations that know America best, over the United States’ ideas of democracy, its business practices, its perceived unilateralism and policies that are seen as increasing the global gap between rich and poor.

“Relatively few Americans have any idea of how critically we are seen around the world and the ways we’re criticized, and what we’re criticized for,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew center, who delivered the report to the White House on Wednesday.

The study arrives at a moment when President Bush is dispatching diplomats around the world to try to build “a coalition of the willing” to change the Iraqi regime, by force if necessary. The Pew study finds the administration facing profound public opinion problems in Turkey and Pakistan, two key allies in the wars on terrorism and, potentially, Iraq.

US defence officials have been visiting Turkey this week, courting Turkish help in any war against Iraq, but the poll found that 83 per cent of Turks are opposed to using their bases to strike Iraq. In addition, a majority believe a US attack on Iraq would be prompted not by security concerns but part of a broader American war on unfriendly Muslim countries.

President Bush on Wednesday brushed off a question about the findings on Turkey and Pakistan, saying he doesn’t run his government based on polls.

“I hope the message that we fight not a religion, but a group of fanatics which have hijacked a religion, is getting through,” he said.

“I understand the propaganda machines are cranked up in the international community that paints our country in a bad light.”

The poll found that Americans’ concerns diverge from those in much of the rest of the world. While Americans tend to name nuclear weapons as the biggest world problem, citizens of most other nations cite AIDS and infectious diseases, pollution and environmental problems, ethnic and religious strife, and the gap between rich and poor. Crime and political corruption were cited more widely than terrorism as “very big” problems.

Hunger remains a fundamental problem, with 44 per cent of Mexicans, 50 per cent of Russians and 86 per cent of Angolans polled in the capital, Luanda, and surrounding areas saying they had not had enough money to buy necessary food for their families in the past year. Poor quality drinking water was a major concern across the developing world, as was lack of health care.

The $4-million Pew study is striking in its scope. It surveyed more than 38,000 people, most interviewed between July and October in their own homes. The survey questions were translated into 46 languages and 17 dialects. In Mali, Egypt, Pakistan and some other countries, however, the respondents were concentrated in more urban areas, a sampling that could skew results.

Large majorities in Europe, most of Latin America and even Lebanon say they like American popular culture, while people in Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan dislike it by large margins. American science and technology command near-universal respect. But in country after country where people like American technology and culture, they are displeased over the spread of American ideas and customs.

With the exception of Japan, the Philippines, Bulgaria and most of the African nations, majorities or pluralities in 29 other countries, in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia, said the spread of Americanism is a bad thing. But 79 per cent of Americans said it is a good thing.

Likewise, there is broad support for the war on terrorism, except in the Middle East, yet there is an equally strong global consensus that the United States disregards the views of others in carrying out its foreign policies, the report said.—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times