Poll: Europeans Abandon Obama

Europeans once keen on Barack Obama as the bringer of an era of multinational good feelings are having second thoughts about the U.S. president, a poll found.

Obama’s European approval rating dropped to 64 percent, sliding for the fifth straight year from 85 percent when he took office, according to a poll released today in Brussels by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The falling-out was most pronounced in Germany, due to outrage at National Security Agency snooping on Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama’s numbers also slipped in France and Italy, and were unchanged in Britain. Poland bucked the trend, seeing the U.S. as a guardian against Russia.

“The past year has been a difficult one for the German- U.S. relationship,” the German Marshall Fund said in a statement. “For the first time, a majority of Germans said they would prefer a more independent approach from the U.S.”

Following are other results from the survey, conducted between June 2-26 in 10 European Union countries, the U.S., Turkey and Russia by the German Marshall Fund and the Italian foundation Compagnia di San Paolo. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Britain-EU: Some 51 percent of Europeans said the EU should make concessions to Britain to prevent it from leaving the bloc. The French begged to differ, with 52 percent wanting the U.K. to go.

Euro schism: Europe’s economic divide was reflected in 95 percent of Greeks saying they were affected by the crisis and 70 percent of Germans saying they weren’t.

Ukraine: Some 52 percent of Europeans favored offering EU membership to Ukraine, with 43 percent against.

Turkey-EU: Turks warmed toward the EU, with 53 percent deeming possible EU entry a “good thing,” up from 45 percent last year.