Americans are more concerned about the Greek debt crisis and Boko Haram
US media has finally noticed the British general election, but a new YouGov survey suggests that most Americans have no interest in the story.
Over the weekend YouGov asked Americans a series of questions about several major events taking place around the world, the British election among them. The list mostly included events taking place far away from North America – from the Greek debt crisis in Europe, to the rescue of hostages in Nigeria and territorial disputes near China’s borders – but also included the unrest in Baltimore, Maryland, which dominated US media coverage last week. The questions were general: How closely are you following these events? How important are they for the world? And for the United States?
On all three measures, Britain came at or very near the bottom of the list. In fact only 16% of Americans said they were following the elections even somewhat closely, and 51% said they weren’t following them closely at all. Even fewer think the election is “very important” for the world (15%) or the United States (14%).
Between 24% and 35% of Americans called the other events very important for the world. The unrest in Baltimore, the only event taking place in America, rated highly on each question.
A survey recently conducted by YouGov Germany suggested people there are similarly uninterested in the British election. A third of Germans have never even heard of David Cameron; three in four have never heard of Ed Miliband.
