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Americans say big business better at creating jobs abroad than in U.S.

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Americans have a dim view of big business, saying in a new poll that large U.S. corporations are much better at creating good jobs in foreign countries than at home.

Results of a Gallup survey released Tuesday showed respondents have more confidence in small businesses than large ones as the economy continues to struggle to recover from the Great Recession.

Asked which make greater contributions to developing new products and technologies in the U.S., 60% of respondents said small businesses and just 35% said big corporations.

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“Large U.S. companies clearly have an image problem,” Gallup said of the findings from its poll of 1.005 adults.

“A majority of Americans perceive that large U.S. companies do a poor job in terms of creating jobs domestically, helping grow the American economy, and putting the interests of the country ahead of their own,” Gallup said.

About two-thirds of respondents -- 66% -- said large U.S. companies did a good job of creating good jobs for citizens in foreign countries where they do business.

Just 43% said those firms did a good job of creating good jobs in the U.S.

Overall, 54% said big businesses did a poor job of balancing the best interests of the U.S. and its citizens with the best interests of their companies.

The findings are consistent with earlier surveys showing skepticism about large U.S. corporations. Last year, a Gallup poll found that only 22% of respondents said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in big business.

Gallup said the latest poll results show that a “significant challenge large U.S. companies face in their efforts to improve their image at home is convincing Americans that they are the backbone of the U.S. economy as much as they are economies overseas.”

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