More Germans optimistic about relationship with US
October 17, 2022
A joint study released by the Körber Stiftung and the PEW Research Center has shown Germans are increasingly positive about their country's relationship with the United States.
According to the survey, carried out late last year and earlier this year, more Germans now say that the relationship with the United States is good (82%) when compared with 2017. While 81% of American respondents believe they have a good relationship with Germany.
"Germans became substantially more optimistic about bilateral relations in 2021, after leadership changes in both countries," the researchers said.
What did the study show?
The survey, conducted among 19,791 American adults by PEW Research Center, and 1,088 German adults by Körber Stiftun, revealed most residents in both countries consider each other reliable partners when it comes to European Security and dealing with Russia.
Germans, however, are more skeptical about how the partnership can protect the environment, while Americans are relatively less convinced of Germany as a partner for dealing with China.
Germans are more likely to name the US as their country's most important international partner, while the United Kingdom pops up more often in Americans' minds.
Disagreement over 'threat' of Russia, China
Nearly nine-in-ten Americans (89%) and about three-quarters (76%) of Germans surveyed believe their respective militaries should be utilized in foreign conflicts to protect the security of their own country and its allies.
Among US respondents, 58% said the US military should promote democracy aboard. In Germany, 49% of participants said the Bundeswehr should be used for that purpose and 46% said it should not.
However, the threat Russia's military poses is not an issue on which Germans and Americans see eye-to-eye.
The survey showed about two-in-ten Germans consider Russia a major military threat (22%), and even fewer say the same about China (7%).
Two-thirds of Americans consider China a military threat to US security (64%), and similar shares say the same about Russia (66%).
The majority of those surveyed n both countries support Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Similar concerns over the energy crisis
On energy, the survey showed 60% of German respondents and 67% of Americans think European countries are not doing enough to cut off Russian energy supplies.
More than half of Germans said they should seek out energy markets from all countries, with 38% saying it should only come from democracies.
Americans are more evenly split on the question, with 48% saying their country should only get energy supplies from countries that are democracies, while 46% are happy to import energy from all countries, regardless of the political system.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn