A new poll in 35 countries suggests that people around the world would prefer Democratic challenger John Kerry as US president over George W Bush.
Global research company GlobeScan Inc and the University of Maryland found clear leads for Mr Kerry among those polled in 30 of the countries.
Only Filipino, Polish and Nigerian respondents clearly backed Mr Bush.
Mr Kerry scored best in traditional US allies, such as Canada and Western European countries.
The highest margin was in Norway, where 74% of respondents backed Mr Kerry compared with just 7% for Mr Bush. The strongest negative views about US foreign policy appeared to come from Germany, where 83% said their view of the US had got worse.
Respondents in all the Latin American countries polled, including neighbours Mexico, also went for the Democrat, with the biggest majority - 57% to 14% - in Brazil.
The picture was more mixed in Asia. Only respondents in the Philippines clearly backed Mr Bush, but there was an almost even divide in India and Thailand.
Organisers of the poll attributed the Philippine result to US aid to a military campaign against Islamist rebels in the south of the country.
Wow, what a blowout. Bush is really in trouble now, what with all those electoral votes going right to Kerr... oh wait.
Hey world, WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!! When YOU are the most powerful nation on the planet, how you think we should vote might matter a tiny Goddamn.
Until then...
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True indeed. Much as I think its healthy the rest of the world takes an interest in world politics, as far as elections go, it (rightly) matters not at all.
What the fucks with Norway though? I mean 74% to 7%? France and Germany, sure you expect it but NORWAY CARES?! Was whaling season quiet or something ;)
"Some 58 percent of Europeans said strong U.S. leadership in the world was undesirable, an increase of nine percentage points from a similar poll last year. Only in Britain and the Netherlands do a majority desire strong U.S. leadership."
Hey, I agree with Europe on something, you want a weaker America, vote Kerry.
also
"By contrast, 79 percent of Americans said they support strong European Union leadership in world affairs and look to Europe as their preferred partner for solving global problems, even though 51 percent of them approve of Bush's foreign policy."
Seen older polls like that, but I thought that would change. Surprising it's still the same, guess I'm one of the few who see them as the future threat to the U.S. for which they are.
Nag you are exactly right. I would like it Europe got of it's ass and started to help out with world problems. Like Africa for example. But no Europe's military sucks. They would rather spend money on having 89 vacation days a year. "Free" health care. Oh and a really good rail system.
Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.
Originally posted by Barbwire MikeWow, what a blowout. Bush is really in trouble now, what with all those electoral votes going right to Kerr... oh wait.
Hey world, WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!! When YOU are the most powerful nation on the planet, how you think we should vote might matter a tiny Goddamn.
I wouldn't mind this post if it wasn't for the fact that most Americans seem to alternate (or, dare I say, flip-flop) between "We're #1, we don't care!" and "We're America, we provide leadership for the rest of the world."
Using a comic book analogy, look at it this way. Superman is the de facto leader of the Justice League, though he is pretty humble about it. When they're going to face a crisis and Superman proposes a plan, Superman doesn't say "Fuck y'all, I'm going alone, you guys must secretly love Lex Luthor" if, say, Aquaman and Flash raise objections to it. No, Superman isn't a pig-headed idiot....like, say, Wolverine. The United States can't seem to decide if it wants to be a Wolverine or a Superman.
"I wouldn't mind this post if it wasn't for the fact that most Americans seem to alternate (or, dare I say, flip-flop) between "We're #1, we don't care!" and "We're America, we provide leadership for the rest of the world."
Well, both of those statements are true. I don't, nor should I care, whether Nigeria, Germany, Poland, or India think Kerry should be president rather than Bush. There is a large segment of the American population (myself included) who are not as aware of the political landscape as they probably should be. Certainly if Americans don't all know everything about their presidential race, I seriously doubt all but a very select few in those other countries know what the hell they are talking about. And yes we do provide leadership for the rest of the world. I don't think that that has anything to do with the other statement. We don't care about what the world thinks of our leaders, so long as we feel they are doing a good job. On the other hand, I don't really recall America consistently saying that they don't care about world affairs and problems.
Well we all can't be like Canada who bends over backwards to make other countries happy. Oh wait Canada just doesn't do anything to piss anyone off. For better or worse the US is the biggest, richest, most powerful country in the world. It's not like the USSR, England, France, and other countries that have been a superpower (at that time) were loved by all the other countries in the world. These vague "I hate the US" complaints are BS. What are they unhappy about? What do they suggest the US do about the problems? How are they willing to help? Just sitting there bitching because they aren't the most powerful country (France I am looking at you) is just childish. The US does need to improve it's world relations but the US is not an evil country. Just self centered and oblivious to other countries. It would very difficult to convince me that if the US isn't #1 that the world would be a better place. All the previous world powers and the ones that came close would almost definitely be worse.
Cool I got promoted to JTTS and got to make fun of France a win win.
(edited by Dahak on 11.9.04 1215) Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.
Well, that's not suprising, as George Bush hasn't exactly been making friends worldwide.
However, like most people have said, the only country that really counts as far as this election is concerned is the United States. And people here seem LOVE Bush, unfortunatley (well, unfortunatley for Kerry supporters like me).
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This whole topic is silly. Where were the world opinion polls back in June for the Canadian federal election? I'm curious if Norway and Spain were pulling for Stephen Harper.
I'd say Superman is a great example of what America should be like. He IS more powerful than all humans. He could CRUSH THEM ALL! But, he just blends in, gets along with everyone and tries to help them out. He can't go and use his heat vision on Lex Luthor everytime he gets into a snit. He has to operate within the laws, even though he IS a vigilante. If Lex Luthor flew planes into buildings, Superman would be on him like nobody's business. But you can't go arresting everyone who MAY be planning something bad.
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That's one awesome fuckin' picture. Thanks for that, Mike.
Of course, world polls of U.S. elections only matter in horseshoes and hand grenades, but it certainly seems to be another indication that Dubya has done more to hurt our standing in the world community than anything else.
And seeing as how we were the ones who were attacked, that's a quite remarkable turnaround. There was an outpouring of sympathy from the non-Islamic-fundamentalist world, and an "official" sympathy card from Saudi Arabia (although I don't doubt that a lot of them were ecstatic).
But by going after the wrong fuckin' target, without a plan to win the peace, and without a plan to get our soldiers home safely, Dubya ended up screwing us pretty good.
Didn't vote for him the first time, not gonna vote for him the second time.
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I find it funny that all the people who say that we need to go out of OUR way to make the world like us don't have the same expectation of the rest of the world.
When was the last time France went out on a limb so we would like them? Russia? Germany? Nothing in my recent memory.
Hell, the most visible example of a nation trying to get us to like them now is Saudi Arabia for crying out loud.
Can someone explain to me why it is our responsibility to go around ass-kissing nations who would never think of doing the same in return?
Yup, our our global standing has gone down, but only among those nations that would just have us kissing their asses anyway. Personally, things are as they should be. I would much rather someone like France have a lower opinion of us than for us to go around getting their permission before making decisions that do not affect them.
And the Superman analogy was a great one. If SUPERMAN saw a brutal dictator torturing his people, guess what superman would do?
The same damned thing we did - take him out. But we would stick around to help them rebuild their government, and to make sure another wack job doesn't take power.
We are therefore better than Superman. That is awesome.
Originally posted by Pool-BoyAnd the Superman analogy was a great one. If SUPERMAN saw a brutal dictator torturing his people, guess what superman would do?
The same damned thing we did - take him out. But we would stick around to help them rebuild their government, and to make sure another wack job doesn't take power.
We are therefore better than Superman. That is awesome.
Maybe he'd help the civilians, maybe not, but Superman would also head to Sudan, North Korea, South America and other nations and deal with the problems there, too. And he would also find the time to fly Lex Luthor and Ned Beatty to prison.
If any terrorists had a problem with Superman intervening, what are they going to do about it? He has a secret identity to hide behind and he's nearly invincible. We must stand by our actions, for better or worse, and we're not invincible.
The poll doesn't matter but there is one main reason that the world cares about our elections. We are the 800 lb gorilla and more than just militarily. What happens here affects much of the world directly and indirectly. Of course we shouldn't base our vote on what the world thinks but remember, they have a stake in what we do as the only superpower.
I for one would love Europe to get off it's ass and do something about the problems that they created. The Middle East was mainly created that way because England and France wanted to keep power so they set up these artificial countries with different tribes that hated each other. Then there is Africa were Europe completely fucked it up and then decided that if they weren't willing to be good little natives and do what the whities wanted fuck em you are on your own. By no means am I overlooking the US mistakes especially in the Caribbean but Europe just seems to be pissed that they are no longer in charge. Well get off your ass and do something then.
Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.