Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave a fiery speech at the United Nations last week in which he referred to U.S. President George W. Bush as the “Devil.” How the remarks played in Venezuela we don’t know, but in the U.S. they were not well received.

On a personal level, just 10% of Americans now have a favorable opinion of Chavez. Fifty-eight percent (58%) have an unfavorable view. As for the remarks, 23% or Americans thought they were appropriate for a UN speech while 64% disagreed.

The United Nations may have suffered a bit in the process as well. Other survey data shows that public opinion of the world body has fallen significantly.

While Democrats in the U.S. are quite willing to criticize the Republican President, 57% of Democrats nationwide say the remarks by Chavez were not appropriate. Just 30% took the opposite view and found them acceptable. Among Democrats, just 14% have a favorable opinion of Chavez.

Americans under 30 were just about evenly divided as to whether the remarks were appropriate. Twenty-one percent (21%) of these young adults have a favorable opinion of Chavez.

Support for both the remarks and Chavez decline with age. Among those over 65, just 4% have a favorable opinion of the Venezuelan President and just 14% thought his remarks were appropriate.

Two-thirds (65%) of Americans said they followed stories about Chavez somewhat or very closely.

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