re: The country with the best perceived attitude
Considering the negative press the U.S. has been given for the past fifty years, not sure this is really surprising.
That France has a positive rating is not surprising either. They've never actually done anything to create controversy.
The original paper can be found on your link here.
It is kind of interesting that without the United States, there probably wouldn't even be a "EU" to live up to. At least not under the current flag. Go down the list of nations, and tally off the ones that would today be totalitarian regimes without the influence of America.