Transatlantic Trends 2005

Summary: opinions across Europe and the United States on several topics
of national and international interest. These topics included: the
European Union (EU) and the United States as superpowers, threats
facing the global community, the United Nations (UN), the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), general opinions of various
countries, institutions, and people, actions taken by the George W.
Bush Administration, intervention policy, Turkey´s (potential)
membership in the EU, Iran´s pursuit of nuclear weapons, China´s human
rights record, and political preferences and voter intentions.

Topics: Regarding the EU and the United States as superpowers,
respondents were asked whether it was desirable for the EU or the
United States to exert strong leadership in the world, whether the EU
or the United States or neither should be superpowers, if the motive
for opposing the EU becoming a superpower was increased military
expenditure, whether increased military expenditure was necessary for
the EU to become a superpower, whether the EU should concentrate on
becoming an economic power, and if a more powerful EU should cooperate
with the United States. Respondents were asked about threats facing the
world such as Islamic fundamentalism, immigration, international
terrorism, global warming, the spread of diseases such as AIDS, a major
economic downturn, and the spread of nuclear weapons, and whether they
expected to be affected by any of them in the next ten years. With
respect to the United Nations, respondents were asked their overall
opinion of the UN, whether they believed UN involvement legitimized the
use of military force, whether the UN could help manage the world´s
problems better than a single country could, and whether the UN helps
to distribute the costs of international actions. Regarding the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), respondents were asked whether
NATO could help share the United States military burden, whether NATO
was an essential part of national security, if NATO involvement
legitimized the use of military force, if NATO was dominated by the
United States, and whether Europe should maintain a defensive alliance
independent of the United States. Respondents were asked to give their
opinions on the following countries, institutions, and population
groups: the United States, Russia, Israel, the European Union,
Palestinians, Italy, Turkey, China, Iran, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, and Spain. In regard to the Bush Administration, respondents
were asked whether relations between the United States and Europe were
better or worse, whether Bush´s efforts to improve relations between
the United States and Europe were successful, what the future of
relations between the United States and Europe would be because of
Bush´s efforts, and whether or not Europe should be more independent
from the United States with respect to issues of security and
diplomacy. Respondents were also asked whether they approved of Bush´s
handling of international policies. With respect to intervention
policy, the following questions were asked: should the EU help
establish democracies, should the EU be involved in monitoring
elections, would the respondent be in favor of the EU supporting trade
unions, human rights associations, and religious groups in an effort to
promote freedom, and should the EU support political dissidents and
impose political and economic sanctions in opposition to an
authoritarian regime. Respondents were asked several questions
regarding Turkey´s membership in the EU, including whether Turkey´s
membership in the EU could help promote peace and stability in the
Middle East, if Turkey´s membership in the EU would be good for the EU
in economic terms, whether a predominately Muslim country belonged in
the EU, if Turkey was too populous to become a member of the EU, and
whether Turkey was too poor to be admitted into the EU. Respondents
were also asked what they felt was the best way to put pressure on Iran
in light of its attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and whether or not
the EU should limit its relations with China due to China´s human
rights violations. Respondents were also asked about their voting
intentions for the next elections and what factors they took into
consideration when deciding for which party to vote.

Demography: gender, age, level of education, occupation, household
size, region, and ethnicity (United States only).