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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2006 
Poll Shows Mistrust of U.S.
 Jonathan Roeder - The Herald Mexico
| | A majority in both nations - 69 percent in the United States and 90 percent in Mexico - disagree with a recent U.S. proposal of building a border wall. |
According to a poll released on Sunday, mistrust of the United States runs deep in Mexico, but citizens in both nations agree on many issues - such as the positive impact migrants have on the U.S. economy.
The survey was carried out by New York-based polling firm Zogby International in the United States and the Investigation Center for Development (CIDAC) in Mexico. Citizens from both nations were asked a series of questions on issues ranging from economics and binational relations to how their neighbor nation was perceived.
Only 36 percent of Mexicans polled said they had a positive view of their northern neighbors, while 62 percent of Mexicans said they thought the United States is a wealthier nation because it exploits others.
This differed from the responses on the U.S. side, where 84 percent said they had a favorable view of Mexicans. Positive attitudes were especially high in states in the Pacific and Mountain time zones - areas which generally have larger Mexican populations.
Seventy percent in the United States, meanwhile, said the economic success of their country was due to better opportunities to work, and only 12 percent said it was the result of exploiting others.
However, a strong majority of respondents from both countries - 80 percent of Mexicans and 68 percent of Americans polled - said that Mexican migrants have a positive impact on the U.S. economy.
Regarding the U.S.-Mexico relationship, a slim majority from both sides agreed the other country is important to the future of their own nation. Sixty-two percent in the United States said they thought a strong relationship with Mexico is important for the future, while 52 percent of Mexicans said that solid relations with the United States are essential.
However, respondents in both countries have little esteem for their neighboring governments: 27 percent in the United States said they have good feelings about the Mexican government, while an equal 27 percent of Mexicans said the same about the U.S. government.
Additionally, nearly half of those polled in the United States (49 percent) said that their country sees Mexico as a distant neighbor, while 30 percent said Mexico was perceived as a friend and 12 percent said as a partner. Thirty-six percent of Mexicans, meanwhile, said the United States sees Mexico as a distant neighbor. Only 20 percent said Mexico was perceived as a partner, and 18 percent said as an enemy.
BORDER WALL
But a majority in both nations - 69 percent in the United States and 90 percent in Mexico - disagree with a recent U.S. proposal of building a border wall.
A majority on both sides also said it is important for their children to learn the other nation´s language. Seventy-nine percent of those polled in the United States chose Spanish as the most important from a list of languages, while 88 percent of Mexicans chose English from the same list.
The survey has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points. The U.S. study was carried out by telephone from Feb. 3 to 7, and 1,010 individuals were interviewed. In Mexico, the telephone interviews reached 1,000 people between Feb. 10 and 16. |
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