Americans know little about Latin America: poll

By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters Life!) - Despite President George W. Bush's campaign to improve the United States' image in Latin America, very few Americans seem to know what is going on in the region, a new poll showed.

A recent Zogby International poll showed that the large majority of Americans did not know the names of the presidents of Brazil and Mexico, the two biggest economies in the region.

Only 10 percent of the 7,362 adults interviewed were familiar with Brazil's second term president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and just 20 percent knew of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

"In part this reflects the fact that Americans don't pay much attention to foreign affairs generally," said Peter Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank which was involved in the poll.

"If you ask them who the president of Pakistan or Iraq is, they probably might not know," he added.

Bush visited five Latin American countries in March in an effort to boost U.S. influence in a region that elected several left-wing leaders in recent years.

The poll showed that just one in four Americans approve of Bush's handling of U.S. relations with Latin America, but 60 percent said his administration has done poorly.

Three of the four free trade deals waiting for approval in the U.S. Congress are with Latin American countries -- Peru, Panama and Colombia.

The Zogby poll showed that about 48 percent of Americans think the United States should have more trade agreements with Latin America while one in three were opposed.

Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica appeared as the closest allies of the United States. Venezuela and Cuba topped the list of the least friendly, followed by Colombia, which is in fact a firm ally.

More than half those polled said the United States should be talking to the Cuban government, which for decades has been its fiercest rival in the region, and 56 percent said the increasing influence of communist China in Latin America is a serious threat to U.S. influence.

The online poll was conducted between July 27 and 30th and has a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points.