People in the United States are more likely to say that former U.S. president Ronald Reagan deserves credit for the collapse of communism, while respondents in Canada and Great Britain select former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish union leader Lech Walesa, according to a new three-country study by Angus Reid Strategies.
The online survey of representative national samples asked respondents to assess the performance of nine political figures of the 1980s, and their effect in the eventual collapse of communism.
For Americans, Reagan is the clear winner with 69 per cent of respondents claiming he deserves a lot of credit or some of the credit for the collapse of communism. More than half of people in the U.S. also commend Gorbachev (56%) and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (57%) for their efforts.
In Britain, only Gorbachev (57%) and Walesa (56%) clear the 50 per cent mark, followed by German chancellor Helmut Kohl (47%), Thatcher (45%) and Reagan (44%).
In Canada, Gorbachev is seen as the most important figure (65%), followed by Reagan (58%), Thatcher (56%) and Walesa (52%). Canadians are more likely to select Reagan and Thatcher as deserving “some of the credit”, and place former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney at the bottom of the list with 25 per cent.
The survey also shows that a considerable proportion of people in the two North American countries (47% in the U.S. and 44% in Canada) regard Pope John Paul II as an important player in the collapse of communism, while Britons (31%) are decidedly more skeptical.
Former French President Francois Mitterrand, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Mulroney are ranked in the bottom by respondents in all three countries.
Are Former Communist States Better Off Now?
Clear majorities of respondents in the three countries surveyed (72% in Britain, 67% in Canada, and 55% in the U.S.) believe that the people in the former East Germany are better off now than they were two decades ago.
Half of Canadians (50%) also see Poland and the Czech Republic as countries that are better off now than under communism, followed by Hungary (43%), Russia (41%), Ukraine (39%), Slovakia (37%) and Romania.
For Americans, Poland and Russia are tied at 38 per cent, followed by the Czech Republic (32%), Hungary (30%), Ukraine (also 30%), Romania (29%) and Slovakia (27%).
In Britain, more than half of respondents believe Poland (62%), the Czech Republic (58%) and Hungary (52%) are better off now than in 1989, followed by Slovakia (49%), Russia (47%), Romania (45%) and Ukraine (43%).
Analysis
Americans have long been exposed to excerpts of Ronald Reagan’s June 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate, where the president urged Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall. People in the United States clearly regard Reagan as the most important figure in the collapse of communism.
Britons are not as welcoming with the actions of their own head of government at the time, with Thatcher failing to reach the 50 per cent mark on this question. As is the case with Canadians, people in Britain tend to side with the notion that Gorbachev’s internal policies, and Walesa’s leadership, played a more prominent role in the collapse of communism than Reagan’s actions.
CONTACT:
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs
+604 647 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
