Commentary ~ September 9, 2004: George W. Bush
may be popular in some dusty corners of his homeland, but around
the world he is mostly detested, according to a new poll of 35 countries.
In 30 of these countries, Kerry is preferred by a landslide, according
to a study released by the Canadian opinion research firm Globescan
and the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy
and Attitudes (PIPA).
The Globescan/PIPA study also revealed the extent of damage the
U.S. image has suffered in Europe. In nearly every country, respondents
said that their opinion of America had grown worse since Bush took
office.
Canadians prefer Kerry over Bush, 61 per cent to 16 per cent. A
whopping 71 percent of Canadians said Bush foreign policy made them
feel worse about their southern neighbour, 14 percent said it made
them feel better.
In Germany, 74 percent of respondents were for Kerry, with only
10 percent supporting Bush. Norway, Canada and Italy had similar
results. Countries that showed less than 10 percent support for
Bush were Argentina, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Uruguay.
In France -- not a big surprise -- only 5 percent chose Bush, 64
percent chose Kerry, and 31 percent said they either don't know
or feel there is no difference.
The poll also questioned voters in 12 nations which have contributed
troops (well, a few troops anyway) to the war in Iraq and found
Kerry the choice of respondents in 10 of those countries.
The verdict was split in two countries (India and Thailand), while
Bush won in only three countries (Philippines, Nigeria and Poland).
Arab countries were not polled. Presumably, Bush’s global
ratings would have been even lower had they been included.
A separate German study, run by the Institute for German Opinion
Polling, Allensbach (IfDA) showed Germans support a U.S. regime
change in November. In the IfDA poll, just 4 percent of 1,023 Germans
polled said they would opt to re-elect Bush, while 68 percent said
they would vote for Kerry.
While Americans are almost evenly divided along ideological lines,
80 percent of Europeans do not believe the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq last year was worth the loss of life and cost. Some 73 percent
of Europeans believe the Iraq war has increased the risk of terrorism
-- as do 49 percent of Americans.
However, a separate poll released yesterday found that foreign
attitudes would have little impact on American voters. Only 18 percent
of undecided voters are more likely to vote for the candidate favored
internationally -- with 7 percent saying they are more likely to
vote against the international favorite.
