Not As Clear Cut As The Media Portrays It

David's Medienkritik has a very interesting post about a poll taken in the US and Europe. When asked if people favored the death penalty for Saddam Hussein, majorities both in the US and in Europe favored it. The reporting on the reactions doesn't reflect those poll results, however.

The recent results of a poll conducted by Novatris/Harris for the French daily Le Monde on the death penalty shocked the editors and writers at Germany's left-leaning SPIEGEL ONLINE. When asked whether they favored the death penalty for Saddam Hussein, a majority of respondents in Germany, France and Spain responded in the affirmative. Here the results by country:

Percentage of respondents in favor of executing Saddam Hussein:

USA: 82%
Great Britain: 69%
France: 58%
Germany: 53%
Spain: 51%
Italy: 46%

Clearly, there is a gap between the United States and the European nations polled. On the other hand, the western Europeans polled demonstrated that there is majority support for the death penalty in particular cases. In other words, the gap that exists across the Atlantic is not at all the clear-cut, "black-white" divide that some in media make it out to be.

You have to take a look at the roundup of headlines posted over there. There is clearly a divide between the US and the media/political elite in Europe, but the populace is another matter entirely. The analysis of the positions in Europe – Germany in particular for obvious reasons – is particularly interesting. The German left is a potent political force and a lot of the "good versus evil" rhetoric comes directly from them. But the poll results say it isn't exactly the done deal the media reports it to be.