iStockPhoto
As the U.S. and Argentine governments work to improve mutual relations, the Argentine public continues to be largely mistrustful of the United States, according to a LAPOP survey.
[lquote]“Anti-U.S. attitudes date at least back to the 1940s, when President (Juan) Perón maneuvered to confront U.S. hegemony in the region,[/lquote]” write Vanderbilt graduate students Facundo E. Salles Kobilanski and Cory Weaver, who analyzed data collected in Argentina by the Latin American Public Opinion Project at Vanderbilt University.
“Despite shifts in the exact nature of distrust of the U.S. government, Argentine public opinion continues to reflect such sentiment.”
What do Argentines Think of Warming Relations with the United States, an AmericasBarameter topical brief issued to coincide with President Obama’s visit to Argentina on March 23 and 24, shows that Argentines trust the U.S. government 31.8 degrees on a 100- degree scale, making it the country that trusts the United States the least in all of Latin America and the Caribbean. The closest countries to Argentina on the scale are Boliva (36.5) and Ecuador (42.0), and they range up to the country that trusts the United States the most, Guyana, at 75.6.
The stated goal of Obama’s visit was to increase transnational cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and citizen security.
In the citizen security realm, the LAPOP results show there is a need for some salesmanship when it comes to public acceptance of the United States having a role.
In 2012, Argentines scored 28.6 degrees on a 100-degree scale on their willingness to cooperate with the U.S. military on defense and security issues. That number went up to 30.7 degrees in 2014.
When it comes to trusting the U.S. military, Argentines scored 26.6 in 2012, improving to 28.9 in 2014.
Kobilanski and Weaver suggest that Argentines might be concerned about U.S. agencies such as the CIA or DEA getting involved in their country.
Overall, Kobilanski and Weaver’s report advises that “the Argentine public is ripe with skepticism and caution. Argentines are sparing in their trust of the U.S. government and tend not to support extensive cooperation between the two countries on issues related to state security.
“A certain amount of patience and calculation is likely needed by both sides in order to win the endorsement of the Argentine people for the emerging Argentina-United States bilateral agenda,” Kobilanski and Weaver write.
LAPOP develops, implements and analyzes the AmericasBarometer public opinion surveys. Since the 1970s, LAPOP has gathered a treasure trove of public opinion data containing political perspectives from Latin American and Caribbean citizens. LAPOP data and reports are available to interested researchers at the LAPOP website. LAPOP covers 28 nations including all of North, Central and South America as well as a significant number of countries in the Caribbean.