Most people think that President George Bush’s state visit to the UK was a PR victory, but believe it has damaged the British Government’s reputation, according to a survey commissioned by PRWeek.
Forty-six per cent of those interviewed by Access/BMRB last week said they thought Tony Blair and Bush had won the PR battle over the visit, while 41 per cent agreed strongly that it had damaged the Government’s reputation.
The survey also revealed that AB respondents (professional and middle management) and E respondents (the long-term unemployed) held almost the same view on the visit’s effect on Britain’s reputation. Forty-eight per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, agreed that ‘offering a state visit to President Bush at such a controversial time reflects badly on the British Government’.
Access/BMRB business development manager Robert Salmons said the results gave ‘the impression that maybe in the eyes of [many people], Bush and Blair won the battle, but lost ground.’
