Majority of Americans Understand Little of Chile

As the U.S. struggles with a sagging public image in many Latin American countries, American adults show a stunning ignorance about the region, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.
Only 10% of online poll respondents said they were familiar with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the second-term president of Brazil, South America’s largest country. And just 20% were familiar with Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico, who was elected last summer in an extremely close race that captured global headlines.

The Zogby Interactive poll included 7,362 adults nationwide and was conducted July 27–30, 2007. It carries a margin of error of +/– 1.2 percentage points.

Asked which Latin American countries are the biggest allies to the U.S., Mexico is seen as the top ally, while Brazil is seen as a close second. Costa Rica is seen as the third greatest ally of the U.S. Asked which countries in the region are least friendly to the U.S., Venezuela and Cuba predictably topped the list. But Americans listed Colombia—which has been the U.S.’s closest ally in the past decade—as a distant third.

The poll suggests that American adults are badly misinformed about the region. Most Americans believe Brazil and Mexico are the U.S.’s best friends in the region, but the great majority cannot identify the president of either country.US citizens identify two familiar adversaries in Latin America as Cuba and Venezuela.

The Bush Administration considers Colombia one of its staunchest allies in the region, backing Plan Colombia with more than a half-billion dollars per year for its anti-drug, anti-guerrilla campaign. Colombia gets more foreign aid than any other country in the world outside the Middle East/Afghanistan arc.

More than half – 56% – said they believe China’s increased involvement in Latin America represents a serious threat to American influence there. Among those respondents who identify themselves as most politically liberal, 48% said China’s increased involvement in the region represented a serious threat to the U.S., but the most conservative respondents were much more concerned – 76% said China’s activity was a serious threat to America. Just 10% said such involvement by China posed little or no threat at all to the U.S. role there.
They just don't know where Chile is .