| AMERICANS THINK of Russians as being quite different from themselves, much more different than the British, Germans or Japanese. The political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union appear to mean more to Americans than, for example, ethnic or other differences between America and Japan. Fifty-six percent of the 1,277 respondents to a New York Times poll thought Russians were "quite different" from Americans; only 38 percent said Japanese were "quite different." | Thirty percent of Americans
thought at least half the people in the Soviet Union would emigrate if
they could.
Another key finding was that those Americans who know most about the Russians do not necessarily feel more sympathetic toward the U.S.S.R. than other Americans. While knowledge of the Soviet Union may lead to a better image of the Russian people, it leads to a worse view of the Soviet Government. Hostility toward the Kremlin was strongest, in fact, among those respondents who knew most about Soviet history and the current Soviet leadership. That hostility, however, was not absolute; the same group was both especially likely to think of Russia as a threat and especially likely to think the United States should try harder to reduce tensions. Polling Americans, By Adam Clymer; The New York Times Magazine, 10.11.85, p.37 |