U.S. to France: Je T’Adore

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a survey of public opinion in the U.S. reveals America’s love affair with France is back on and nearly as steamy as ever.

In a Gallup poll released Tuesday, 78% of respondents in the U.S. said they had a favorable view of France, up from a low of 34% in 2003, after France opposed the U.S. in seeking United Nations support for the Iraq war. France’s favorables in the U.S. in 2014 are just shy of the record high in 1992 and 2002 of 79%. Public opinion of France in the U.S. has been rising fairly steadily since 2003.

The love goes both ways, apparently. A Pew poll released in 2013 reports 64% of the French have a favorable opinion of the United States as well.

The release of the Gallup poll comes just as embattled French President Francois Hollande in is in the United States on an official state visit. Notably absent from this visit is Hollande’s long-time partner and France’s defacto First Lady, Valérie Trierweiler, whom Hollande recently broke up with after allegations arose that he had cheated on her with another woman.