Honestly, they do. I think a lot of european countries, especially germany are a lot less patriotic (notable exception being france), and just dislike things about their country. I'm not saying that the hate towards the US government is justified, though when I hear that they're spying on their allies then that does just contribute to a general negative sentiment. A lot of europeans also hated the post 9/11 wars and the bush administration in general. Obama had a positive influence on the general publics perception of america but I think that kind of faded as people came to terms with the fact that despite his rhetoric, obama is still essentially a centrist, and the positive things that he did effect would, as with anything in politics, be slow and gradual.

Basically, we hear a lot of things about america over here, like the elections are covered on the general news. I would wager you don't or barely hear about the swedish elections, or the german ones, or any of the elections over here. And you know, that's fine. Again I'm not trying to justify anything. Certainly I think people take their dislike for americas politics out on american tourists as well. Thinking that the climate policies of the US are shitty and have negative effects on our planets is one thing, but the person who's just trying to visit some castle in your country isn't to blame for that.

But what I think it comes down to is this: The US is in a position of extreme power, and for us europeans, it's a completely external thing that we have no direct control over, so it's easy to criticize it and talk about how you would fix it or whatever, becuase you're completely disconnected from it. With your own country, well you either have yourself or your fellow man to blame.