Firstly I have to say that most of the people who start threads like this are quite naive and haven’t been paying close attention to the world.
I should clarify something, first. Hate is a strong word. I don’t believe that a majority of Europeans “hate” Americans. I’ve certainly never seen any polls suggesting something like that. I’ve seen some screwball polls though, that can speak towards that fact.
Most Europeans, like most people in general, are not constantly thinking about the world’s affairs. Don’t try to superimpose the internet forum community for the entire population of a continent. I spent most of my first seventeen years and several years after that in Europe (my father was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany when I was growing up.) I can tell you that the vast majority of people were mostly “normal” in that you don’t chat about politics, the issues about nationality and et al. don’t come up in common conversation. Obviously when the wall fell there was some increased political talk, but overall Europe, like America, is not a country where international politics is the main topic of discussion or even a very common topic of discussion.
I’d classify feelings towards America like this:
Ever since the beginning of the 20th century there has been a small yet vocal minority in Europe that truly hates the United States, even today I’d put their numbers at an absolute max of 20%. On top of this, there is a large mostly ambivalent majority that has TENDED to “look down upon” or, “slightly disdain” the United States for the vast majority of the 20th century.
1900-1940 we were overall disliked in the international community.
I’ll chart this:
1900-1914 - We are overall disliked because of Theodore Roosevelt and some of his international policies that chafed European leaders. We were close to war with Germany for example.
Also there is international distaste lingering from the Spanish-American War and our dealings with Cuba and also the Philippines.
1914-1917 - We are looked down upon because we aren’t getting involved in WWI
1918 - For a brief period we are liked because of WWI, but even during WWI Pershing takes a lot of flak because he won’t allow the Americans to be the French lapdogs over in Europe.
After the war there is general distaste over Wilson and his “idealistic” meanderings over peace. Then we don’t sign the Versailles treaty, causing more dislike.
1918-1929 - Dislike because we are “too isolationist” and because we are very unforgiving of European nations that are refusing to pay us back for the money we lent them that won their ridiculous war they started amongst themselves.
1929-1939 - Disliked because of our tariff actions during the Great Depression. Then further disdain over our inaction in response to the Nazis near the end of the 30s.
1939-1941 - Our absence from WWII is not appreciated.
1941-1950 - During this period we probably enjoy the only amount of time where in general we are “liked”.
1950-1960 - The Suez crisis sours a lot of European leaders, also some peaceniks are mad because we won’t allow the Communists to steamroll over Europe.
1960-1970 - Vietnam and our involvement in it is unpopular in most European capitals. The British in particular are cold, in large part as revenge due to our behavior during the Suez crisis.
1970-1980 - Carter is personally liked, but overall the United States is seen as badly handling things like the Iran issue, the withdraw from Vietnam, more and more Europeans began demanding a less bellicose stance on Communism and start protesting about the United States and its military presence.
France has been growing more and more cold for years prior to 1970, in large part because de Gaulle had sest France on a path of hegemony inside Europe that was calculated to weaken the American position on the continent.
1980-1990 - Pretty much anyone left of center dislikes the United States and Reagan. Peace protestors et al hate him and his “no nonsense” style when it comes to dealing with Communists.
When the USSR falls there is general harmony though, but it of course doesn’t last long.
1990-2000 - I’d say throughout 1990-2000 we probably have had at least a few short phases where in general we were “liked.”
Some European nations didn’t want to get involved in the Gulf War at all, but Bush I handled that fairly well. Somalia and Kosovo brought equal amounts of flak/praise. Some Euros were glad we were involved, some not. So probably about in the middle on the like/dislike scale.
Clinton got some flak over his initial involvement in the IRA talks, was seen as interventionary over in the UK, but eventually that turned completely around.
Clinton again took popularity hits in Europe when he bombed Baghdad.
Clinton ended his presidency on a fairly popular note over in Euroland, though.
9/11 - Popularity hit briefly. Then as soon as we start talking about going into Afghanistan we get some flak, but not that much. Iraq tilts us firmly back into the dislike category. Probably as bad as during the loan issues after WWI or the Suez crisis in the late 50s.
To answer the original question, no the average Americans are not aware. Secondly, no, the average European doesn’t “hate” America, there is a difference between dislike and hate and I wouldn’t classify their feelings as “hate.” Again though there is that 20% of so minority that probably truly does hate the United States.
Is some current bad will Bush’s fault? Yes, of course. But a lot of Europeans have disliked a lot about this country since 1900, you have to decide if you are going to let that dictate how you live your life, and I don’t think you should. We are our own country, and I am sorry that Europeans have consistently had problems with us on some level since 1900. Some of it was our fault, but no, not all of it, and I refuse to ever say that all of it was our fault. It wasn’t our fault you wouldn’t pay your loans back, it wasn’t our fault we didn’t see the need to rape Germany after WWI, it wasn’t our fault that you played little Imperialist colonizers during the Suez crisis, it wasn’t our fault you wanted to appease the Communists during Reagan.
It was our fault with the tariffs during the Depression, and maybe a few other things.