British and French in 'not arrogant' shocker

I am indebted to the lovely people at Pew Global for making their survey on 'the American-Western European Values Gap' available online, so I've picked the best bits and knocked up another couple of charts.

Asked this question - “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others” - the polling results look like this:

Interesting, no?  The supposedly self-satisfied / exceptionalist French are the least confident / arrogant across all age ranges, while the supposedly cringing / perpetually apologetic Germans have the smuggest youngsters (well, under 30s).  Our American chums lead in self-belief in the two other age breaks.  Meanwhile, what is going on with Britons born between 1962 and 1981?  Most of that cohort would have known Thatcher, Major or Blair as the first prime minister of their adulthood, two of whom were not exactly shrinking violets.  

The breakdown by gender is not as dramatic, but is of interest nevertheless:

Taking a wild stab in the dark, I would imagine that women lead in most countries as there are more of them among the older.

Shame that Pew did not poll the Chinese....

 

What - Me Worry?

(With apologies to Alfred E.Neuman)

I have just laid eyes on a eurobarometer survey about global warming, climate change, a new ice age or whatever they are calling it this week, which - in the main - is a dull as one would expect.  However, there are some broader questions involving what folk regard as the leading threats to humanity, and it is with this that I will attempt to make hay.

So, guess which country's population has the highest percentage considering international terrorism to be 'the single most serious problem facing the world as a whole'?

Well, Bulgaria - obviously.  Doubtless Al Qaeda, Continuity IRA, the Sendero Luminoso, Al Shabbab and the Red Army Faction are all planning on unpleasantness in Plovdiv even as we speak.  Alternatively, maybe the Bulgars think that little bit bigger than certain other countries - I'm talking about you, Hungary and Greece.  Adjusting my liberal hat, perhaps the Greeks have other things to worry about.  Anyway, the figure for Bulgaria is 53%,  21% for Greece and 19% for Hungary.  We are third behind the Czechs, at 46% and 47% respectively.  A paper published in 2003 has this to say 'The Republic of Bulgaria...has little experience with terrorist acts. During the past 20 years, only nine terrorism-related events have been recorded in Bulgaria, and no unconventional weapons have been use'.  Let us hope that the Bulgars, and the rest of us, stay safe.

Here's a chart of the findings:

(The first 'SL' above should be 'SK') 

Another possibility is 'the increasing global population', and what a miserable bunch of neo-Malthusians the Swedes turn out to be - 45% cited it.  The Dutch are not much better at 39%, and the 30% + club is entirely made up of Northern countries.  At the other end of the scale, the Bulgarians are fairly sanguine at 8%, likewise the Italians, while Malta (6%), Portugal and Poland (both 5%) are doing the Pope proud.  

Elsewhere, the Greeks are most worried (or were, the research dates to June) about the economy, and the Swedes the least, while the Swedes buy into global warming the most and the Portuguese the least.  We are the least worried about the spread of disease and the Czechs and the Slovaks the most.  Being of a cynical bent, I imagine that alarmist TV documentaries do rather a lot to skew these figures.  

Curious opinion poll o' the day. Yes, it's French.

Now that the Visigoths appear to have been sent back to their caves, time for some light relief, and where better to turn than to a bizarre French opinion poll, which I am *not*, repeat, *not* making up:

'The French and their sexual fantasies', conducted by Harris for Marianne, a current affairs etc magazine.

Yes, really.  Here's the link to the data.  In keeping with basic decorum and this being a family blog and all, there's nothing that should bring bring too much of a blush to a maidenly cheek or otherwise be not safe for work.

The initial question asks whether folk think about other people while engaged in 'l'amour' with a significant other, and the findings are not that thrilling.  Where it gets interesting is when the data is examined by political allegiance.  Right wingers are the ones with minds most prone to wander - 6% 'fessed up to 'often', compared to zero among the extreme left.  Whether that is down to questions of loyalty,  fulfillment, imagination or the reverse is left unexplored.  The highest figure for 'never' is for Gaull ist - 53% and the lowest for Greens (not included in extreme left, oddly enough) - 39%.

Offered a list of celebs, George Clooney (F - 33%) and Sophie Marceau (M- 30%) top the list.  Clint Eastwood does octogenarians proud, as 9% of ladies opted for him.  And Brad Pitt outscores Kate Moss among chaps.  There is a heavy skew towards Clooney for the extreme left and for Sophie Marceau for the right.  Clooney is a liberal, surprise surprise, while Marceau has refused to share a TV studio with Jean-Marie Le Pen.  How she feels about the Laffer curve, climate change and school vouchers is as yet unknown.

Entertaining though this is, the survey then moves onto French politicians, which is where the fun really starts.  For chaps, top of the table at 25% is Rama Yade.  Here she is:

She served in Sarko's government and was ambassador to UNESCO.  Current whereabouts are unknown.

Second most popular (10%) is Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, minister for the environment etc:

Ségolène Royal limps home in third at 5%.

For the ladies, it is Dominique de Villepin, albeit at a rather feeble 4%:

As for Sarko himself, he scores one per cent among the ladies, less than Ms Yade.  Mind you, Francois Hollande and Martine Aubrey scored zero for both genders.  Dominique Strauss Kahn rates 1% among female respondents and I will add nothing more to that finding.

The political skew sees little to separate right from left when it comes to Rama Yade, but there is evidence of party loyalty with other figures - 7% of Frontistes 'like' Marine Le Pen, compared to 1% overall, and Aubry and Hollande do register some support among the left.  Greens prefer Royal, relative to the norm. 

Survey o' the day - belief in the supernatural by political affiliation

For once a survey that addresses what I would have thought were the wilder shores of belief  is US based rather than French.  Should I ever find myself, A - rich beyond the dreams of avarice and B - out of loved ones to scatter largesse on, I am going to start commissioning similarly entertaining polls in these parts.  Anyway, onwards:

26% of Americans believe there is spiritual energy in trees etc.  Yes, really.  Must make trips to the hardware store etc a little trying, and driving past telegraph poles positively gut-wrenching.  I think 'Avatar' has a lot to answer for. 

24% (and 22% of self-defined Christians) believe in re-incarnation.  As I have noted before, 'while believers in previous lives always seem to think they were Queens (hello Shirley McLaine), Emperors, mighty warriors etc, someone does have to man the plague pits, clean the latrines, die of leprosy in infancy'.

Where it gets distinctly odd is when worshippers are asked if they go anywhere else other than their usual place of worship:

However, significant numbers within all three Protestant traditions report sometimes attending Catholic Mass; this includes nearly one-in-five black Protestants (19%), 13% of white evangelicals and 14% of mainline Protestants. Fewer say they attend Jewish synagogues or Muslim mosques.
Roughly one-in-five Catholics say they attend services of at least one faith other than Catholicism, with most of these (18% of Catholics overall and 16% of white Catholics) saying they attend Protestant services. About one-in-twenty Catholics report attending services at Jewish synagogues (5%) and 1% say they attend Muslim mosques.

This could suggest that very broad ecumenism is catching on, but I think it more likely that folk are thinking 'oh yes, we did go to that wedding of the Goldsteins / O'Reillys / Olafsens a few years back ' (delete as appropriate).  Another possibility is that there is some very serious hedging of bets going on.

16% believe in the evil eye, curses etc.  I suppose that would serve to explain the continued existence of certain forms of popular entertainment.

In the best tradition of these things, the fun really starts when political persuasion is factored in, and to my distinct pleasure, Republicans are the most sceptical in the three way split twixt Reps, Dems and independents.  Shame that Greens are not included - I imagine the figure for tree worship would have been quite entertaining.  Anyway, the split for reincarnation is 17 R/30 D/ 26 I.  Belief in yoga as something other than just keep fit sees this division - 15 R / 31 D /26 I.  Somehow I cannot, or rather will not, visualise Newt Gingrich in a leotard.  Apologies to anyone now in need of brain bleach.

Meanwhile, 21% of Republicans 'have felt in touch with someone who has died', with 36% of Dems thinking likewise.

More later, although unlikely given pressure of work.

Who likes us, who doesn't, and who doesn't even know which street we are on

Gallup have been doing some polling of all humanity, or at least a fairly large representative sample thereof, enquiring as to whether they approve or disapprove of the job performance of the leadership of various countries, including my own, my native land.  So that is what I am going to focus on.  Polling times varied across countries, so some will have been expressing opinions of the Colossus of Kirkcaldy is he is not known, and some of the Cameron/Clegg duumvirate.  And perhaps some will have been thinking of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Battenbergs.

Anyway, onwards - starting with Africa:

Gallup claims that some 91% of Malians and Sierra Leoneans have a positive view of our leadership, which is nice - if not exactly credible.  It would suggest that most of the population of those places has a subscription to The Economist / Le Monde Diplo and is otherwise glued to the World Service or CNN.  I cannot find a figure for UK aid to Mali, which doubtless does exist. Egypt and Libya show rather more credible 'don't know' figures at over 30% in each case.  Equally, they are not among our biggest fans in Africa, with high disapproval figures.  By and large, the strongest disapprovals correlate with Muslim majorities, bar Liberia.  I do not know what we've done to upset them.

Advancing to the Americas, Canada, the US and Chile view us with the highest levels of favour,but note the still high levels of hostility or unawareness.  Haiti would appear to be the most hostile in the Western hemisphere, outdoing Argentina - the one place known to have a beef with out foreign policy.  Nicaraguans are the least able to summon an opinion, followed by Guatemala.  The 30% approval rate from Venezuela suggests that not everyone is singing from the Chavez hymn book.

In Asia-Pacific, five of our six bestest friends are former parts of the Empire,with the Philippines the interloper.  Indians are the least able to muster an opinion, less so than - inter alia - Kyrgystan.  I doubt that the Bishkek Bugle carries much UK news, but what do I know?  Unsurprisingly, it is Muslim majority countries which are least favourable, led by the 75% for the Palestinian Authority. 

Bringing things to a close with our own backyard, Albania and Kosovo (omitted from the chart in error) approve the most whole-heartedly, while other participants in the Balkan wars take another opinion - not much love lost between us and the Serbs and Bosnians.  Note also the hostility of the Germans and the Greeks.  The Portuguese and Maltese find it hardest to come up with an opinion.

It's not idle surfing or gawping at the box, it has 'high cultural value'

I am indebted to our French neighbours for coming up with yet another odd survey, with some even odder findings: on which activity has the greatest cultural value (in the opinion of the participant).

Top of the table is reading a book, at 29% (down six points in 14 years), followed by going to an exhibition / museum at 20%, reading a paper at 12%, going to a concert at 12% and my favourite - 8% for surfing the internet, followed by 7% for watching TV.  Regrettably, there is no breakdown by voting pattern, but under 35s skew to surfing and the 65+ cohort to watching TV.

Anyway, onwards.  Asked how many books they read - which includes graphic novels - 10% said none and 20% said 15+.  Reading skews, heavily, to greater levels of education, higher status work and living in Greater Paris.  In among the other questions, I rather like the fact of 18-24 year olds agreeing with the 65+ group that 'there are not as many talented authors as there once were'.  Presumably the youngsters remember their studies.... 

The Arab Spring - what Europe thinks

A French paper has commissioned a poll on the Arab Spring, with the details here at Ifop. Questions were asked in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.   The findings do not suggest that there is very much cheering on of our neighbours from the sidelines going on.

Asked whether the events inspired fear or hope, the Italians split 76% afraid to 21% hopeful.  The most enthusiastic were the Germans - 48%/45%.  We emerge as Europe's mouth breathers with 22% being unable to muster an opinion (it was 8% in France, the next worst) with 53% scared and 25% hopeful.  Right wingers were more likely to opt for fear over hope in all five countries.

Asked the likely consequences, thee numbe one response was more emigration to Europe, followed by Islamist takeovers.  The Spanish mustered 61% for the arrival of democracy in the region to our 50%  Mind you, perhaps the Spanish have rather more recent memories of strong men running the show and what came afterwards.  Again, right wingers in all countries were the most likely to think an Islamist takeover likely.  Asked where EU money should go, the better off opt for development aid, and the less so for tighter immigration controls.

The post would be incomplete without showing what Ifop does with the Union flag in all the 13 opportunities it had:

Maybe Ifop is a den of Irish nationalists which refuses to accept the 1800 Act of Union.