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World opinions on the US elections

iangb

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BBC Poll: Rest of world favours Obama.

...and the original source: PDF or website.

Some snippets;

"The poll of 21,797 people, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA between July 3 and September 3, 2012, indicates that Obama is preferred to Romney in 20 of the 21 countries polled. Overall, an average of 50 per cent would prefer to see Obama elected, compared to only 9 per cent who prefer Romney. The rest express no preference between the two."

"
Pakistan, where 14 per cent want to see Romney elected compared to 11 per cent who prefer Obama, is the only country where the current President is not the favoured candidate."

"The current results are broadly in line with the results of a similar BBC World Service poll conducted in 2008, which found that Obama was the preferred choice for US President in all 23 nations polled."

"
Steven Kull, Director of PIPA comments: “Obama’s election in 2008 led to a major recovery of America’s image in the world and people are showing little interest in changing horses now.""


Now, those with a mind to will dismiss this out of hand; I'm expecting comments along the lines of "We're the only ones voting; it doesn't matter" or "who cares what a bunch of socialists think?". But I'd call it something of a telling impact on the way that the US president affects the way that the nation is perceived.
 
No surprise that the world would favor the candidate who appears weak in relations with other countries around the world.
 
Not surprising that the world favors the guy they have heard of over the guy the have not heard of.
 
No surprise that the world would favor the candidate who appears weak in relations with other countries around the world.

One would expect that of countries who aren't friendly to the US, true.

One would expect Pakistan to be a big supporter of Obama if what you say is true.

However, allies like Canada, France, etc. would be expected to favor a strong America, wouldn't they?
 
This is probably going to be completely misunderstood but the way Bush treated most other treaty countries I imagine they are glad to see him go and are suspicous of Romney as a Bush clone especially after his performances in England and Isreal and his comments about Russia.
 
[But I'd call it something of a telling impact on the way that the US president affects the way that the nation is perceived.

First, who gives a crap, they don't have to deal directly with the domestic policies that hurt us over here that are put in place by our president.

The way the nation is perceived? Huh? Is that some sort of crazy left wing way of saying Obama is better? I'd suggest it just shows how many people overseas have easily had smoke blown up their backsides.
 
I got an idea. How about we schedule a Presidential election based on the vote of citizens of other countries and the guy that comes in second wins?

They all hate us, even the Brits and Canadians. So I figure the guy they hate the most will probably make the best President FOR US.

It's lonely at the top and if you like being on top get used to being hated...even by your trusted allies.

Personally, I wear it as the badge of the champion.
 
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No surprise that the world would favor the candidate who appears weak in relations with other countries around the world.

the world may tend to hope a us president who will have very strong and true ties with teh other countries in my opinion
 
the world may tend to hope a us president who will have very strong and true ties with teh other countries in my opinion

No, they want the one that makes them feel best.
 
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And most of those countries, if not all of them, are an economic mess. We don't want what they want and have.
 
I wonder if they'll give him another Nobel Peace Prize if he wins this time around? Maybe it'll be the Nobel Prize in physics this time...
 
Our country is known as the greedy, fat, lazy western country. We are generally hated but tolerated. It doesn't matter what any of them think, as long as we remain a very powerful country, we will be fine. But when we begin to lose our edge as powerful, you can bet that we will be taken advantage of.
 
And most of those countries, if not all of them, are an economic mess. We don't want what they want and have.

It was Wall Street who put them there, they see Obama as a safer pair of hands in extricating all of us from the meltdown.
 
It was Wall Street who put them there, they see Obama as a safer pair of hands in extricating all of us from the meltdown.

It always ticks me off when I hear foreigners complain about America causing the recession. How quickly they forget the fact that it was because of America's booming economy that your economy was doing so well in the first place. You ride on the shoulder of a giant and complain when he stumbles.
 
First, who gives a crap, they don't have to deal directly with the domestic policies that hurt us over here that are put in place by our president.

The way the nation is perceived? Huh? Is that some sort of crazy left wing way of saying Obama is better? I'd suggest it just shows how many people overseas have easily had smoke blown up their backsides.

If the American president is popular in other countries, doesn't that say a lot about his foreign policy?
 
I don't think the average foreign citizen cares about the U.S. election or follows it very closely. Most would probably select a name that they have heard before and possibly recognize as the current president. Even fewer people would know the way each candidate stands on certain issues. The average U.S. citizen would have a hard time naming their own senators, if other nations are anything like that I wouldn't pay too much attention to their views of our politicians.
 
If the American president is popular in other countries, doesn't that say a lot about his foreign policy?

Not necessarily. Personally, I find the realist proposition to be the more interesting one: self-interest reigns.
 
The only thing more useless and easy to ignore than our own domestic polls is polls in other countries.

In other words, who cares what the rest of the world thinks?
 
The only thing more useless and easy to ignore than our own domestic polls is polls in other countries.

In other words, who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Citizens of a nation that wants to be a world leader among nations.
 
Citizens of a nation that wants to be a world leader among nations.

I disagree with this. As I noted (perhaps another thread) asking what other countries want in our president is like allowing a defendant to pick the prosecuting attorney
 
I disagree with this. As I noted (perhaps another thread) asking what other countries want in our president is like allowing a defendant to pick the prosecuting attorney

It seems to me that, if we really want our influence to be felt abroad, the way other nations perceive our leader is rather important. If, on the other hand, we don't give a crap what other nations think of us, maybe we're not ready to lead.


Why do we even want to lead?
 
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