Conversely, the pro-America vote is only 1% in Argentina. When did Argentina become the most anti-American country in the world? Even the French and the Palestinians are more sympathetic to a leading role for the U.S. Weird. ~Kevin Drum

I have two words for Drum: debt default.  The ruin of the Argentine economy accelerated after the default of 2001, intensifying already widespread dissatisfaction with neoliberal “austerity” measures.  Loss of confidence in the government and the dollar-pegged currency among foreign investors had been worsened by the decision to devalue the peso.  There had already been a run on the banks, which ended up destroying the savings of much the Argentine middle class and forcing a freezing of savings that then deepened the recession.  The resulting meltdown after the default flung hundreds of thousands and millions below the poverty line and sent unemployment skyrocketing.  The Economist reported in February 2002:

Such is the awe-inspiring severity of the economic, financial, political and social collapse that has befallen Latin America’s hitherto richest country and its third-largest economy. 

That tends to put people in a bad mood.  At the time, this was blamed squarely on the U.S.-backed, World Bank/IMF-approved neoliberal policies of the Menem and de la Rua governments.  The Argentine meltdown was the beginning of the end of the neoliberal era in Latin America.  There are now no governments in Latin America that would go within ten feet of the label neoliberal, much less the policies associated with it.  As neoliberalism goes, so goes the reputation of the United States, which was the principal sponsor of the doctrine.   

American refusal to bail out the Argentines, announced in the editorials of The Wall Street Journal among other places, made the association between the economic collapse of Argentina and America even stronger.  Good job, WSJ–another bright and shining victory for “free markets and free people”!  Add to that decades of Peronism and economic populism, both of which flourish when they have an outside force politicians can blame for the woes of the country, and it is not hard to understand why Argentinians have particularly hard feelings towards U.S. leadership in the world.  As they probably see it, if the U.S. had a much lower international profile Washington would not have been able to press unsuitable policies on their government–indeed, it would not have even tried to do so.  It is not surprising at all that 84% of Argentines don’t trust the United States to act responsibly.  

Interestingly, Argentina is relatively more sanguine about America functioning as the “world’s policeman”–more Americans (76%) believe the U.S. is doing more along these lines than it should than do Argentines (62%).  Running up against that is the figure showing 75% of Argentines who think the U.S. should have fewer bases around the world, which is a higher percentage to take this view than any other country listed in this survey (France is a close second).