MEXICO CITY - The proportion of Mexicans who hold a positive view of the United States has steadily shrunk in the last few years, and the concerns of people in this country differ from those of their neighbours to the north, according to two new surveys.

The percentage of Mexicans with a favourable opinion of the United States plummeted from 72 to 41 percent in the past four years, and a mere four percent support the U.S.-led war on Iraq, indicates a Latinobarómetro survey which is to be released Thursday in Miami, but whose partial results were reported Monday in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Global Views 2004, a study carried out by academic institutions in the two countries, found few similarities between Mexican and U.S. citizens with respect to their views on questions like security and foreign policy.

The government of President George W. Bush should take a close look at these polls, which show that their neighbour and trading partner is becoming more and more distant, Marcelo Fuentes, a researcher at the University of La Salle, told IPS.

Global Views 2004, whose results were published Monday, found that a majority of respondents in the U.S. saw terrorism and chemical weapons as the worst threats to security, while Mexicans were more worried about drug trafficking and global economic crises.

The study, carried out by Mexico's Centre for Economic Research and Teaching, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, reported that those interviewed in the United States believed foreign policy should focus primarily on defending their jobs and preventing the proliferation of chemical weapons.

Mexicans, by contrast, said foreign policy should defend the interests of Mexicans living in other countries, and promote the sale of national products.

When asked what they thought about economic globalisation, 64 percent of the U.S. respondents said it was "mostly good", a view that was shared by only 34 percent of the Mexicans.

Global Views 2004, which is based on surveys of 2,500 people in the United States and Mexico, said some of the majority opinions expressed fly in the face of what politicians in the two countries tend to think.

For example, 84 percent of Mexicans agree that security should be tightened, and are even "willing to allow U.S. officials into Mexico to help guard Mexico's borders, airports and seaports in the fight against" terrorism, says the report.

"This runs counter to Mexico's traditional nationalism and suspicion of foreign intervention by the United States," it adds, while pointing out that "Leaders have a traditional, defensive attitude more in line with nationalist discourse."

Among the U.S. respondents, 64 percent were in favour of a migration accord that would offer greater opportunities to Mexican immigrants "in exchange for Mexican efforts to reduce illegal immigration and drug trafficking."

Fuentes said the survey by Latinobarómetro -- an independent polling firm based in Santiago, Chile -- and Global Views 2004 once again highlight the fact that not only do physical barriers like high walls and fences separate Mexico and the United States, which share a 3,200-km border, but radically different "sociopolitical realities" do so as well.

"The governments should take note of this, and act," said Fuentes.

But while Global Views 2004 underlines differences between Mexican and U.S. respondents, it also shows some points on which they coincide.

A majority in both countries -- 55 percent in Mexico and 77 percent in the United States -- said they believed the U.S. government should participate in solving international problems with other governments.

Although the Latinobarómetro poll, whose technical details are not yet available, found that a large portion of Mexicans do not see the United States in a positive light, Global Views 2004 reported that Mexican respondents tended to admire the U.S. form of government, and the freedom and economic prosperity achieved by their northern neighbour.

"I see no contradictions, because the differences have to do with the fact that Latinobarómetro focuses more on assessing the reactions of Mexicans to the performance of the current U.S. administration, while the other study has a more general focus," said Fuentes.

According to a poll carried out in 35 countries by the University of Maryland Programme on International Policy Attitudes and GlobeScan, which has a worldwide network of research institutes, 78 percent of Mexicans do not want Bush to be reelected in the November presidential elections in the United States, in which he will face off with Democratic candidate John Kerry.

The results of Global Views 2004 are aimed at serving as tools to help governments, legislators and other decision-makers keep in mind the viewpoints of the public, said Andrés Rozental with the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

There is a heavy flow of trade between Mexico and the United States, which are partners (along with Canada) in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that went into effect in 1994.

When asked by Global Views 2004 how they felt about NAFTA, 44 percent of Mexicans said it was good for the Mexican economy but 42 percent said it benefited the United States more than Mexico.

Meanwhile, 42 percent of those surveyed in the United States said the trade agreement was good for their country, but 69 percent said it benefited Mexico more than the United States.

The poll also found that 89 percent of the Mexican respondents said their country should pursue an independent foreign policy rather than follow the U.S. lead in international questions.

But 45 percent of respondents in the United States said Mexico should follow the U.S. lead in terms of foreign policy regarding international issues.

The survey states that "factors linked to its history, culture, and domestic politics push Mexico in the...direction...(of) keeping a prudent distance from its neighbour and largest trading partner, maintaining its noninterventionist principles and pacifist diplomatic tradition, (and) supporting a multilateral foreign policy orientation to counterbalance the United States."

Of the 38.8 million "Latinos" living in the United States, 25.4 million are of Mexican origin or descent.

Some 390,000 undocumented Mexican immigrants make it into the United States every year, most of them with the help of "coyotes" or people traffickers. But over one million are deported annually.

Most of the illegal drugs consumed in the United States -- the world's largest market for narcotics -- enter the country through Mexico.

Up to 1993 it was possible to make it across the border between the two countries at points near border cities. But since then, roads and populated areas along the frontier have been closed off with high walls and fences, and the controls were further stiffened after the Sep. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

Added to the language and cultural differences between the United States and Mexico is the imbalance in terms of economic power, as well as continuous conflicts in areas like human rights, protection of undocumented immigrants, and the fight against drug trafficking.

# # # #