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Americans increasingly view Russia as top threat: Gallup

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia now is considered by Americans as the United States' greatest enemy amid increasing U.S. -Russian tensions, a Gallup poll released Monday found.

Americans have become significantly more likely to view Russia' s military power as a critical threat to the U.S.- 49 percent now hold this view, compared with 32 percent a year ago, according to Gallup.

The results are based on a Feb. 8-11 Gallup poll, completed just before the international community brokered a cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in the country's east region. European leaders had hoped to reach an agreement to head off the possibility that the U.S. would send weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian military forces.

Americans' basic views of Russia are the worst Gallup has measured in its 26-year trend, with 24 percent having favorable and 70 percent unfavorable views. Russia's favorable rating has declined 10 points in each of the last two years. Just three years ago, Americans' views of Russia were more positive than negative.

Gallup's trend on ratings of Russia began as the Cold War was ending, and has fluctuated a great deal over its 26 years. For most of that time, Americans have been more positive than negative toward Russia. The major exceptions were during and shortly after the Kosovo situation in 1999, when the U.S. and Russia were at odds over the NATO-led bombing campaign against the Yugoslavians, Gallup found.

Americans' ratings of Russian President Vladimir Putin are even worse than their ratings of the country more generally, as 13 percent have a favorable and 72 percent an unfavorable view of Putin, according to Gallup.

The feeling appears to be mutual, given that a Gallup World Poll survey of Russians conducted from April-June 2014 found 4 percent of Russians approving and 82 percent disapproving of U.S. leadership.

However, because Americans' attitudes about Russia have changed substantially in the past and have been quite positive at times -- which has not been the case for countries such as Iran, Iraq and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- if Russian and American policy interests find more common ground, Americans' views of Russia could recover quickly, Gallup found. Endite