smueller:

Well I've now read the article, and it seems the Brits still love you, so come to London instead! ;-)

For anyone interested in reading a portion of the actual poll questions with the reponses reported by country:

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=2498

Click on "Topline Results" for a pdf file with the data.

50% of the people I meet don't like me anyway, so I might as well enjoy myself traveling while annoying people.

ANN, LOL ! That's the ticket! Wish he would feel that way. He takes things sooooo seriously IMO.

Isn't it "kibosh"?

Let me ask you a question. It's no secret that more than half the population of the US hate the French and claim they are rude and obnoxious. So does that mean you will be rude to a French tourist if he comes here to visit? Do you think the average French tourist will meet with hatred and rude behavior everywhere he visits in the US? I don't think so. So why should it be any different for a US citizen visiting France?

Michelle, I always wondered about the spelling;-). And Patrick you are preaching to the choir with me...it is a stubborn middle aged man I have to convince. He just needs to mellow out...he WILL go if I have to do some underhanded blackmailing.

I was in France in April and didn't experience anti-American attitudes or even generally rude attitudes, although the fact that I could speak some French may have helped. I think reasonable people will judge individuals on their own merits, and as long as you are polite (and I'm sure you are), you should be OK. We've all heard horror stories about some nameless person(s) being harassed, but some of these stories may have become larger with each telling. Besides, we have our own rude people here who may not like Northerners, black people, men with long hair, people with big noses, whatever.

Tallulah is right, I go to France every year - only when I say 'Je suis irlandaise' do they lighten up. Rome is different - local traders happy to speak english (maybe because half the tourists are American). Prague is best, locals smile at you when you mutter your Hello or Thank You - imagine a guide book telling you (truthfully)that there are no unsafe areas in a city even for us dumb tourists. Glad no mention of Ireland in the poll - we still love the U.S. even if no Democrat in White House and do'nt hate our nearest neighbour.

We've always been treated very well in France and Germany. The only place where we've consistently encountered generic anti-American attitudes has been the UK. However, they often treat each other like crap, too, so it's not all that notable.

You know, I read that in the Herald Trib this morning and personally dismissed it as Bullsh**. If you are nice, tactful, smiling and I might add a good traveler there is no way people will have animosity towards you. In Portugal during the days of Communism I was with a couple of locals who advised me to be careful. Typically I wasn't...just was myself. All...of us had a good time and wound up around their Sardine boat roasting Sardines, drinking wine, breaking bread and singing Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Portugal was COMMUNIST? When was that? Did I blink and miss it?

I've been to France twice a year for several years now, (the latest trip in October), and have never experienced rudeness - actually people have gone out their way to be helpful. I will certainly keep going back. And I'm a Republican!! I like the scenery, food, history, museums, wine - and could really care less whether they "like" Americans or not. I suppose if I found people being overtly rude to me I might stop going - but as I said, I have found exactly the opposite.

Do Good:

In the mid-1970s, anyone involved in running multinational businesses knew that Portugal had gone, by our standards, quite insane. The passing of the years and too much vinho verde have erased the details (did they actually try to leave NATO?).

But within a few months of Salazar's death, the country was practically a subsidiary of the dinglebats in Moscow. That's why their accession to the EU was accelerated.

My understanding is that, for many Portuguese who'll never see 50 again, those years have the frisson that les evenements have for the French or Haight Ashbury has for Americans.

Well, as I make this comment I will duck as sure someone will blast me, but sometimes reading post here I think that some US travelers are more negative about fellow US travelers than any European I have encountered.

Now note: I said some US travelers. Certainly not all. And certainly not the majority. But some US travelers seem to come across so beligerent about their fellow travelers it makes me feel bad. And for sure a few travelers deserve it. But if we don't all like each other why do we expect Europeans to be a 100% percent thrilled with us.

Watching the dinner news here in Canada a couple of nights ago I got a good laugh at an entrepreneur somewhere in the States selling "kits" to help Americans travel in disguise as pretend Canadians. I think it was a tee shirt and a couple of Canadian flags, plus a little booklet on how to talk like a Canadian. The report suggested they were selling like hotcakes.

Like many Canadians I feel sympathy for the almost 50 % of American voters who voted against Bush, but like a large number of Europeans I'm absolutely appalled at the re-election of George W. Bush. ( a pre-election survey here in Canada suggested 75 % favoured Kerry over Bush ) I have long opposed many US government foreign policies but always separated the government from the people. Now though, the world knows that more than half of the American public voted for a continuation of your governments foreign policy which continues to kill thousands of innocents in Iraq not to mention already more than a thousand of your finest young people.

I for one will travel to Europe or almost anywhere else in the world but like many Canadians I know, I won't travel to the US until your government changes its' ways.

Gosh galiano, we will sure miss you I am sure.

Galiano, have you considered just going to visit the "blue" states? On the west coast, that gives you Washington, Oregon and California, and on the East Coast, you've got New England...and a few others scattered around the rest of the U.S.

When we were leaving the Former Soviet Union in 1989 my mother-in-law said SERIOSLY: why are you going to America, they want to start a war with us. After this statement no public opinion can come as a surprise