As if we need another sign that we Americans should go to the polls in November with a goal of changing our country's leadership, a new poll published today in the http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/03/nyank03.... " target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph shows that people in Britain -- our best friends in the world -- no longer like our country.

YouGov, a British polling organization, did the survey June 26-28 and found that 77 percent of Britons polled disagree with the statement that the United States is "a beacon of hope for the world".

"There has probably never been a time when America was held in such low esteem on this side of the Atlantic," wrote Anthony King, a professor of government at Essex University, in http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/03/nyank103... " target="_blank"> an analysis of the results published in The Telegraph.

Wrote King: "A majority of Britons think American culture and the actions of the present American administration are making the world a worse place to live in, and almost no one believes America is now, if it ever was, a beacon to the world. Well over half of those interviewed regard the U.S. as an imperial power bent on dominating the world by one means or another."

Other poll results show that Britons overwhelmingly view Americans as uncaring, governed by greed, divided by class, racially split, wholly uncultured and ignorant of the world outside our borders.

And these are the people who like us most in the world!

Some other poll numbers:

• 90 percent of respondents see the United States as dominated by big business.

• 83 percent think the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

• More than two-thirds believe America is an imperial power seeking world domination.

• 81 percent said George W. Bush is a hypocrite who went into Iraq under the guise of helping the Iraqi people but who was actually in pursuit of American self-interests.

• Only 24 percent say they believe that the U.S. military action in Iraq was helping to bring democracy to the country.

The plus side was that our British cousins still seem able to separate American citizens from our current government, with 70 percent of Britons saying they like Americans "a lot" or "a little".

That's something, I guess.

But they sure don’t like Bush. Only one percent of British respondents rated him a "great leader," while 77 percent called him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.

"President George W. Bush's standing in this country could scarcely be lower," wrote Essex University professor King in his analysis of the poll. "George W. Bush is no Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower or John F. Kennedy. All of those American presidents inspired respect. Mr. Bush appears to inspire nothing but contempt."

At least we can all agree on that.

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com