Israel is the U.S.’s fourth closest ally, after Great Britain, Canada and Australia, a recent poll conducted by the Harris Interactive websiteshows.
Japan follows Israel on the list of close allies, according to the nationwide poll of 1,217 adults surveyed between August 9 and 16, 2005.
The survey shows that 41 percent of Americans view Israel as a close ally, 31 percent regard Israel a friendly country but not an ally; 13 percent contend that Israel is neither a friend nor an enemy, while only six percent of Americans consider Israel to be a true enemy.
Every year Harris Interactive asks a nationwide cross section of U.S. adults how they feel about a list of countries with a scale varying from "close ally" at one end to "unfriendly and is an enemy" at the other.
In this year’s survey, Great Britain, Canada and Australia continue to lead the list as the countries perceived to be the United State's closest allies, followed by Israel and Japan.
France drops to 17th place
Great Britain still holds a very special place among U.S. adults as almost three-quarters (74%) think of them as a close ally. Canada (48%), Australia (44%) receive high marks but they are quite distant from those received by Great Britain.
Other countries which are viewed as close allies by substantial numbers are Mexico (27%), Italy (26%), South Korea (25%), Germany (24%), and Sweden (23%).
Countries that have shown the most significant changes in the last year are India (moving up from 17 to 14), Chile (moving up from 22 to 19) and South Africa (moving down from 15 to 19). Other interesting findings include:
Germany and France, countries that for many years had been among the United States’ closest allies have now slipped in the eyes of U.S. adults.
France, the country which was most outspoken in its opposition to the Iraq war, slipped from eighth place in 2002 to 17th place last year and has improved slightly to 16th place this year. Fully 41 percent of U.S. adults think of France as less than friendly.
Germany, which was almost as strong in its criticism of the United States and the war in Iraq, fell from sixth in 2002 but has returned to a more respectable 10th place this year though a quarter (24%) of U.S. adults still think of it as less than friendly.
The countries which the largest number of people see as "not friendly" or worse are China (53%), Pakistan (53%), France (41%) and Colombia (41%).