Europeans unhappy in general
May 27, 2003
WASHINGTON--A new survey shows U.S.-European differences may run deeper than government-to-government relations.
Harris Interactive reported this month that surveys of residents in the United States and 15 European nations in the last year show that Europeans are far more pessimistic about the future and their current lives than Americans.
While 57 percent of Americans said they were happy, only an average of 21 percent of Europeans said so in the Harris surveys, all of which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
''The big picture is that Americans are much more satisfied with their lives than Europeans,'' said Harris Interactive polling chairman Humphrey Taylor.
In the surveys, only the Danes were more optimistic about the future than residents of the United States. And only in Ireland (where the economy has boomed) and Sweden did a higher percentage of residents say their lives had improved in the last five years.
The Germans were the most pessimistic.
AP