PTI

London, Jul 4: Britons see America as a cruel, vulgar, arrogant society, racially divided, crime-ridden, obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president, according to a newspaper poll published on Monday.

As Americans prepare to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the Briton's opinion about them has touched an all time low.

Only 12 per cent of Britons trust Americans to act wisely on the global stage, The Daily Telegraph poll revealed. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 per cent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

US President George W Bush fared significantly worse, with just one per cent rating him a "great leader" against 77 per cent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.

More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said Americans are essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.

US policy in Iraq was similarly derided, with only 24 per cent saying they felt that the US military action there was helping to bring democracy to the country.

A spokesman for the American embassy said that the poll's findings were contradicted by its own surveys.

"We question the judgment of anyone who asserts the world would be a better place with Saddam still terrorising his own nation and threatening people well beyond Iraq's borders.”