Posted on 06/13/2008 10:48:26 AM PDT by jamese777
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama is far more popular around the world than Republican presidential candidate John McCain, according to a 24-nation poll released Thursday by the Pew Global Attitudes Survey.
The Pew study finds that Obama is wildly popular among traditional U.S. allies in Western Europe and Australia, where people have become alienated by American foreign policy during the Bush years.
Among the nations polled, Obama was most popular in France and Tanzania, where 84 percent of citizens said they had confidence in his leadership. Other hotbeds of Obama enthusiasm are Germany (82 percent), Australia (80 percent), Japan (77 percent), Britain (74 percent) and Spain (72 percent).
"Barack Obama has strong international appeal just about everywhere," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. "He's made quite a splash across the seas."
Obama's global popularity could be a double-edged sword domestically, Kohut said, with some Americans thinking that they don't want foreigners telling them who to choose.
While Obama enjoys widespread global popularity, McCain merits the confidence of a majority of residents in just one of the 24 nations surveyed — the United States. He runs nearly 50 percentage points behind Obama in Germany and France. And he has the confidence of 25 percent or less of the population in eight of the countries surveyed: Spain, Russia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Pakistan and Mexico.
Despite the persistent and false Internet rumors that Obama is a Muslim, the Illinois senator receives his worst ratings in Islamic nations and Mexico: 10 percent in Pakistan, 20 percent in Turkey, 22 percent in Jordan, 29 percent in Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
If Justice Kennedy has his way maybe they’ll be able to vote so it counts!
BFD! Most of these people polled are completely ignorant of U.S. Politics, economics, social conditions, etc. They could not answer even the most simple of questions about the way or manner in which government functions in the U.S. They have little of no knowledge about what it takes to be a citizen of a republic. Socialism is all most of these people know. They have only listened to the rock star appeal that the MSM has managed to attach to Obama. Do they know Obama wants to double capital gains taxes? They probably think that those people who receive income from capital gains deserve to be punished. This is the mentality of most of the rest of the world. Do they know Obama has just about zero knowledge about the U.S. Military or foreign affairs. Do they care? I will even attribute a sinister reason for some of the opinions. Some of these people know that Obama would be a disaster and they wish this to happen. The rest I will attribute to stupidity, ignorance and poor access to decent news reporting.
The rapid increase in dual US/ROW citizenships has already started us down that road.
Women as a species should not have the franchise - period. I have an educated wife (Masters level) and 2 daughters with graduated degrees and 1 son. I know the territory, have observed voting habits for 60+ years.
I think the question is not “Is he a Muslim now?”, but rather “Does the radical Muslim world consider that he once was a Muslim?”
If the latter and he converted to Christianity, then that makes him an apostate to Islam.
That is a crime punishable by death in the Muslim world, worse even than murder, which can be “paid off” to the victim’s family.
If that is so, then the final and most important question is: “Why has there been a deathly silence from the radical Muslim world concerning his apostasy?”
Is it because the radical Muslims are silent because they sense there is a bigger prize in the works?
Probably a product of the public school system.
Shallow thinkers are everywhere.
Given the number of envious people that hate us, I’m not surprised they want Obama to be our POTUS.
Well of course they would. That’s why I don’t live in any other part of the world. Not to mention, Obama is the biggest open door to the rest of the world’s insanity that we’ve ever seen!
Is this were true, then why are the liberals being thrown out of office across the globe in recent elections?
I have travelled quite a bit internationally. One the one hand I dismiss polls like this because most people overseas are Leftists. But there is another reason to dismiss this poll...
Most people overseas, and I include Europe in this, entertain all sorts of bizarre ideas about what America is like. Even Europeans have all sorts of strange ideas about what its like to live here. In the end I dismiss these polls because most of the people polled don’t have the faintest idea what America and Americans are really like. They may as well have asked these same people about their opinions on quantum spintronics. Pay no attention to them.
I know that this is tongue in cheek. However it cannot be denied that U.S. Politics began to take a sharp turn towards the vulgar modern welfare state immediately following women getting the right to vote. This is a historical fact. You could argue that this would have happened anyway. I am not sure. I think that this is an interesting subject.
Londoners run the gamut between being liberal and conservative. The Home Counties are deeply conservative. The part of France where I go is rather conservative. The Glaswegians I know are strongly socialist -- real leftists -- as is much of Scotland. And yet, whether rural or urban, whether leftist or on the right, the people I meet are suspicious of Obama. Oddly enough, no matter their political beliefs, they all say the same things.
They want to know what he stands for, specifically. That "Change We Can Believe In" sounds like BS to them. Quite a few people are troubled by the Rev Wright business. Everyone has pointed to his lack of experience.
I know this won't go over well here, but most favoured Hillary, including the conservatives. (There are a number of complex reasons why European conservatives don't like the Republican candidates.)
The young may be more enthusiastic over Obama. I can't say, as the people I meet are over thirty.
Lighten Up, Francis.
Perhaps, for those on the thread that thought my post was unclear, please let me clarify.
I said "Who Cares", when I meant "Who cares what the world's opinion is?" They're not voting over here. My single opinion matters far more than the opinions of 50 million Frenchmen (or whoever) because I'll be voting in November, and they won't.
Clear Enough?
Thanks, at least someone got it.
Sir/madam, it is not tongue in cheek - I mean it sincerely.
Take a look at the rest of the world and consider what that says about Obamassiah.
A semi-jokingly play on words and yet circumstances surrounding the world and this man echo how close we are. BTW, this soon-to-come world ruler prophesied in the Bible will gain power peaceably and "with flatteries" as a man of peace (ie. he will fool much of the world)(Daniel 11:21). The parallels are striking.
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