The trust Germans have in the United States has plunged amid the spying and surveillance claims made by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, a poll has shown.
Only 49 per cent of survey respondents saw the US as a trustworthy partner, down from 65 per cent before the spy claims and the lowest level since George W Bush was president, the survey said.
The phone poll of 1,005 random respondents was conducted by ARD public television between July 1 and 3.
More than two thirds of those polled feared that their government would be unable to protect them against the alleged mass email, web and phone record snooping by US secret services.
Nonetheless, 78 per cent expected Chancellor Angela Merkel to take a determined stance against both the United States and Britain, which is also accused of large-scale data mining.
More than half of respondents said secret service surveillance was necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. But 61 per cent said they were surprised at the reported scale of the US and UK spy programmes.
