I can mostly guess someone's political leanings in Spain by how they react when I tell them that I am American. Those that gush about how much they admire the U.S. tend to lean conservative and those who reveal their skepticism tend to lean left. This isn't absolute, of course, people who have spent time in the U.S. tend to have pretty positive views of my country, something I take heart in. And since Trump took office, I've found that people of Spain have been charitable about separating their feelings toward the American people and country vs. the current president.
Something similar happens when you ask Americans about the European Union, except it's American liberal lefties (liberal in the American sense of the word) that gush over the EU. Folks who lean right might express contempt or even ridicule. While it was indeed unprecedented and also uninformed for President Trump to call the EU a “foe”,these negative feelings towards Europe have been brewing among conservatives for years, notably bubbling to the surface during transatlantic tensions over the war in Iraq.
While American conservatives renamed “French fries” as “freedom fries” out of their anger at French opposition to the Iraq war, they tended to extend that derision to the rest of Europe. Spain may have also supported this war, but I'm afraid that most Americans only remember the UK's role, since only the UK, Germany and France seem to get much media coverage in the U.S. Otherwise, many Americans see Europe as the stuff of dream vacation and the people who actually do vacation in Europe tend to be liberal coastal elites.
This cultural dimension is a very critical underpinning of these attitudes. Much like there can be a bit of a European economic inferiority complex towards the U.S., Americans have a cultural inferiority complex when it comes to Europe. When John Kerry was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, his campaign specifically didn't highlight that he can speak French and most of all didn't want any videos out there of him doing so because it would make him seem even more culturally elite than he already was perceived to be.
So, many of those who travel to Europe are the people with money, people with university educations and people who mostly vote for Democrats. These people love and admire Europe's strong social welfare systems, healthcare for all, high speed trains and fantastic public transport. Obama has said he envies these things about Europe and when I'm home in the U.S. and tell someone I live in Spain, the typical reaction is “you're so lucky!” Truly, I've heard this over and over, but of course, when I'm home in California or Washington State, states that, along with Oregon, are often referred to as the “left coast.”
There's little polling on American attitudes towards Europe, but a 2004 Gallup pollshows the unsurprising finding that most Americans understand very little about the European Union. Specifically, 37% said they know very little and 40% nothing at all. Only 3% reported knowing a great deal and 19% said they knew a fair amount. Very limited data from Pew Global in 2011 and 2012 showthat 55% and 50% of Americans viewed the EU favorably.
With so little data available, I've done my own qualitative polling among friends and family of varying political persuasion in the U.S. to help shed more light on these attitudes. Brian Burychka is a high school history teacher in the Pennsylvania, a notable 'swing' state. He happens to teach about the European Union but tells me “I have to keep it very surface level.” While Brian admits that he is a bit biased towards the EU (he has travelled extensively in Europe and is a solid Democrat), he teaches in a conservative district and avoids even bringing up the trade-offs in sovereignty because the term triggers such negative feelings. Instead, he explains to his students that “it's like they created a new country with 28 states which means you don't have to spend as much money on things.”
Another friend is a high school teacher in Silicon Valley, echos this sense of having a very limited view of the EU, they told me “my perception of the EU has traditionally been simplistic—one form of currency, making decisions as an economic unit.” They are a former Obama voter who voted for Trump in 2016 and does show some skepticism about Europe: “I was not surprised when Brexit occurred. As an American, I completely understand Britain's desire to regain their sense of control and sovereignty.” Peter Moceri, who identifies as an independent, often votes Republican but not for Trump, also has limited knowledge of the EU but reservations about it. “I don’t understand how the E.U. Works,” he told me,“We are kind of aware of how big the E.U. is, but a lot of us think it’s goofy that countries would tie their economies to one another. Just because we wouldn’t do that. We don’t understand it and can’t relate to it is all, so the Brexit thing makes sense to a lot of Americans.”
While Americans who lean right might be more skeptical of the EU, overall, Americans like Europe. A 2018article in Gallupnoted that “Trump's threats against Canada and European countries have less attitudinal support among Americans, who like these countries in general. The majority of Americans say that their trade practices are fair.” Yet this data does show a growing difference in opinion between Democrats and Republicans on the topic. In 1993, 54% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats thought EU trade policies towards the U.S. were fair. In 2018, only 29% of Republicans thought it was fair, versus 70% of Democrats.
This is further supported by comments made by Jill Whitmore Hansen, who identifies as an independent who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, spent time living in Europe in the 1990s so naturally sees some of the practical benefits of the EU for citizens: “Opening working opportunities is great. Maybe you studied something in [university] and there is one company in your country in that industry. You can more easily move to work.” She also sees the importance of the European Union in the world, stating, “Rightfully they are a super power,” but also adding “just a little more disorganized and less ambitious.”
Judi Hesser Sanders, a solid Democrat whose daughter lives in Europe is quite positive: “I don't know much about it but that it was formed after WWII and to prevent further aggression ( . . . ) United is always a good thing. Forces the group to work things out [and] communicate with each other. That's a good thing!”
Rachael Hazen, a leftwing Democrat says: “I value the European union and think it ought to stay intact. However, I think Germany needs to be more forward thinking and helpful to other nations such as Greece, not so punitive. I think the Brits should stay in.” And she takes it even further: “I think we need a strong European coalition to help counter the growing Trumpian fascism and nationalistic tendencies in the US., although I know those tendencies exist in some European countries also. The leaders don’t seem to be such ignorant extremists and profiteering conmen as ours.”
Democratic leaders generally share their voters' views on Europe—and have indeed helped shape them. Though brief, the party devoted two paragraphs to Europe in their2016 platformthat makes their feelings quite clear:
Europe remains America’s indispensable partner and a cornerstone of global security. Democrats will stand with our European allies and partners to deter Russian aggression, address security challenges to Europe’s south, and deal with unprecedented economic and social challenges. We will maintain our steadfast commitment to the special relationship with United Kingdom and the transatlantic partnership with the European Union. We will seek to strengthen our strategic partnership with Turkey while pushing for reforms, end the division of Cyprus, and continue to support a close relationship with states that seek to strengthen their ties to NATO and Europe, such as Georgia and Ukraine.
We reject Donald Trump’s threats to abandon our European and NATO allies, all while he praises Putin. When the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, our NATO allies invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, stating that an attack against one is an attack against all—for the first and only time in its history. Our NATO allies fought alongside us in Afghanistan and are still there today. We will maintain our Article 5 collective security commitments to NATO because we are stronger when we have our allies at our side. And we will continue to push NATO members to contribute their fair share.
On a visit to Brussels in February after attending the Munich Security Conference, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the closest thing the Democrats have to a parliamentary-style opposition leader, met with European leaders to "[reaffirm] our commitment to the transatlantic alliance, our commitment to NATO and respect for the European Union." She and her delegation sought to assure EU leaders of their power to control the president's worst foreign policy and the website Politicointerpreted it as her effectively saying that “Trump is not the boss.”
In an e-mail, Representative Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada who's a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, emphasized that both Congressional Democrats and Republicans value the EU. “The U.S. and EU have been security partners, economic partners, and democratic partners for decades. Unfortunately, President Trump’s skepticism towards multilateral institutions threatens our shared history and values. My colleagues in Congress in both political parties believe that the EU provides regional stability and we must continue to support this critical alliance in a bipartisan manner. Our success on the international stage depends on trusting and working with our allies.”
While congress-members from both sides might value the relations, Democrats especially love Europe for it's commitment to peace and conservatives often deride it for its lack of military might. And Trump certainly isn't the only American that struggles to understand power beyond hard power. Robert Kagan's well-cited 2002 essay about U.S.-European relations titled “Power and Weakness" focused exclusively on hard power and made a very unfortunate reference to the popular book titled “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” when he wrote: “on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus: They agree on little and understand one another less and less.”
Yet not all Americans require macho hard power to inspire admiration. In fact, a fascinating study conducted by political scientists Danny Hayes and Matt Guardino outlined in the book “Influence from Abroad”showed that messages from European leaderswho were opposed to the Iraq War were influential among many Democrats and independents in the U.S. This is because of an absence of Democratic leadership, which was confused, divided and mostly supporting that war. But it shows how European leaders are able to get messages into the U.S. media system and influence the American left. There's the power of soft power, the power of attraction.
The politicization of whether some countries are seen as allies and others foes is a dangerous road to go down in a world of shifting powers, rising political extremes and rampant disinformation. Despite their differences, the U.S. and the EU share many common values and the vision behind the liberal world order—if American and European leaders and citizens believe in that world order and wish to see it survive, they'll have to do much better.
The Spanish version of this article was published in esglobal.