(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Many Australians believe their country should maintain close ties with the United States, according to a poll by Essential Research. 65 per cent of respondents believe the U.S. is a useful and important ally for Australia to have.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Many Australians believe their country should maintain close ties with the United States, according to a poll by Essential Research. 65 per cent of respondents believe the U.S. is a useful and important ally for Australia to have.
Australia held a federal election in November 2007. Final results gave the Australian Labor Party (ALP) 85 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives. ALP leader Kevin Rudd was officially sworn in as prime minister in December, bringing an end to the 11-year tenure of Liberal leader John Howard as head of Australia’s government.
Howard was one of the staunchest supporters of the U.S.-backed military interventions in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Rudd withdrew all Australian soldiers from Iraq in June 2008, but the country is still involved in the Afghanistan mission.
Last month, Rudd met with U.S. president Barack Obama in Washington. Obama declared: "One area where we agree there’s enormous potential is in the area of clean energy. Both Australia and the United States have vast coal reserves, but we’re also very interested in figuring out how do we reduce the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming."
Polling Data
In the long run, do you believe the U.S. is a useful and important ally for Australia to have, or do you think being a close ally of the U.S. produces more trouble for Australia than the relationship is worth?
|
Useful and important |
65% |
|
More trouble than it’s worth |
18% |
|
Don’t know |
16% |
Source: Essential Research
Methodology: Online interviews with 890 Australian adults, conducted from Mar. 30 to Apr. 5, 2009. No margin of error was provided.
