Economic Crisis
- Spain’s disapproval (66%) of the EU’s handling of the economic crisis was higher than anywhere else in Europe. Spain also tied with Italy for the highest disapproval rate (63%) for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s handling of the crisis.
- 65% of Spanish respondents, the second highest of all countries surveyed, supported contributing to a special assistance fund for countries with budgetary difficulties.
- Only 25% of Spanish respondents approved of the way their country was handling the economic crisis.
- Disapproval rates for the way German Chancellor Angela Merkel handled the economic crisis were highest in Italy and Spain (both 63%), two of the countries hit hardest by the economic crisis.
Eurozone/European Union
- A majority (57%) said that membership in the eurozone had been bad for Spain, and one-in-four respondents (27%) said their country should leave the eurozone.
- Of all countries surveyed, Spain had the highest number of respondents (27%) who wanted to leave the euro in absolute terms.
- While a majority of Spanish respondents (58%) continued to think that their membership in the EU has been good for their country, that majority has declined significantly from last year (68%).
- Spain had the second-highest increase in those who felt EU membership had been bad for their economy (38%, up 12 percentage points from 2011).
Security and Defense
- Spain had the second highest majority (52%) of respondents who wanted to decrease defense spending.
- Regarding prospects for stability in Libya, the most pessimistic responses came from France (69%), Spain (65%), and Germany (61%). Spain was also the second-most pessimistic (75%) about stability in Iraq.
- When asked if China was a military threat, Spanish respondents were among the least concerned (56%) of all countries surveyed.
