Most Europeans dislike Bush's foreign policies

Some 72 per cent of Europeans disapprove of the US President's handling of international policies while more than half (55 per cent) want Europe to adopt a more independent approach from the US on international security and diplomacy - up four points since last year. Conversely, a majority (54 per cent) of the 1,000 Americans surveyed want a closer partnership between the US and Europe.

After winning a second term, Mr Bush sought to heal the wounds left by the Iraq war by making a high-profile visit to the EU in February. But the survey of 9,000 people in nine EU states, including Britain, shows his drive has failed to make Europeans feel warmer towards America.

Despite Tony Blair's much-vaunted special relationship with the President, his offensive has made little impact in the UK.

Only 14 per cent of Britons feel relations between the countries have improved in the past year - along with Spain the lowest rating. Almost twice as many (27 per cent) think relations have got worse, while 56 per cent believe they have stayed the same. "There is still a rift in how we view each other and the world," said Craig Kennedy, the president of German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington-based body that tries to foster co-operation between the US and Europe and which commissioned the poll by TNS.

Patrick Diamond, a former Blair aide who is now a fellow of the fund, said an urgent "change of mindset" was needed. "The US should do its utmost to avoid gratuitous unilateralism," he said. "It is counter-productive to undermine existing international instruments like the Geneva Conventions and the International Criminal Court."

But he said Europe had to change, and it had failed to appreciate the profound shock caused in the US by the 9/11 attacks. Telling America to work through its alliances was not enough.