World Opinion of Bush

[Skogs]

How is it that a president can be so unpopular in the World, and yet still enjoy a significant percentage of the support in his country? Do Americans not care how Bush is slowly turning the world against the US/ For now, the animosity is dicrected directed solely at Bush (for the most part), but were he to remain in power, it would surely reflect on the American people - at least in the eyes of the world.

I'm actually more interested in hearing from Americans about this issue. How important is the image that your leader gives your country in the international community when it comes to deciding how you vote? For me it's very important - Howard is a little weasel and everyone in the world knows it. It's just that Australians are too spineless to dump the incumbents unless things are going properly pear-shaped, and I find that highly frustrating.

So... discuss.

Kerry would win by a landslide if the world voted
By Michael Gordon National Editor
October 15, 2004
www.theage.com.au

Most Australians do not like George Bush and want John Kerry to win next month's presidential election - and they are not alone.

A co-ordinated survey of attitudes by leading newspapers in 10 nations has revealed a sharp souring of attitudes towards the United States that can be traced to one man: Mr Bush.

Remarkably, the view of Australian voters on the key questions is almost perfectly in sync with the average recorded across the other nine nations: Canada, Britain, France, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Israel, Russia and Mexico.

Fifty-four per cent of Australian voters would prefer to see John Kerry in the White House - a figure that exactly matches the average of the 10 surveys.

Sixty-five per cent of Australians have an unfavourable view of Mr Bush. Just 28 per cent would prefer him to win on November 2. The averages across the 10 nations were 63 per cent and 27 per cent respectively.

And 54 per cent of Australians say their opinion of the US has declined in the past two or three years - again, exactly reflecting the average across the 10 nations.
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But most people surveyed have a favourable view of American people. None have a more positive attitude than the citizens of America's Cold War rival, Russia.

Nearly 90 per cent of Russians have a favourable view of Americans, compared with 72 per cent of Australians and 62 per cent of Britons. Only the Spanish (47 per cent) do not like Americans.

In just two of the 10 countries do more voters want Mr Bush to win next month than Senator Kerry. In Israel, support for Mr Bush is at 50 per cent to Senator Kerry's 24 per cent. In Russia, the contest is closer, with 52 preferring Mr Bush returned and 48 wanting to see Senator Kerry elected.

Alejandro Moreno, a commentator for Mexico's Reforma, reconciled the positive views towards Americans with the worsening view of America in one adapted phrase: "It's Bush, stupid!"

The simultaneous surveys were the idea of La Presse in Canada. The project involved several of the world's leading newspapers, including France's Le Monde, Britain's The Guardian, Spain's El Pais and Israel's Haaretz.

Most of those surveyed believe it is important that the US play a world leadership role, an area where Australian opinion is stronger than the average.

Seventy-three per cent of Australians take this view, but less than 50 per cent agree in France, Spain and Russia.

Australians also have a more positive view of the Iraq war than voters in most of the other countries, even though most Australians do not believe the war was justified.

While an average of 55 per cent of Australian voters have opposed the war in AgePoll surveys by ACNielsen over the past 14 months, opposition is much higher in Canada (67 per cent), France (77), Spain (80), Japan (71), Mexico (83) and South Korea (85).

The strongest supporter of President Bush and the war in Iraq is Israel, where 70 per cent of voters support the President and 68 per cent say the US was right to invade Iraq.

As Shmuel Rosner of Haaretz puts it: "Israel loves America, and it loves the American President." He notes that Israel is a country very much focused on itself. "All they want to know is that the Americans are on their side in the important and difficult struggles they have to endure."

Perhaps most surprising is the anti-American sentiment in South Korea, a nation that owes its security and economic strength to the US.

Young Hie Kim, of JoongAng Ilbo, writes that in recent years, the perception of the US among many Koreans has changed drastically, especially among the young.

"Now, many see the US as having moved from a benefactor to an impediment to inter-Korean reconciliation; from a protector to a country that could shatter peace on the Korean Peninsula with hard-line policies towards North Korea."

In Canada, where ice hockey fans in Montreal boo the US national anthem before teams take to the ice, 64 per cent of voters have an unfavourable opinion of Mr Bush and say their opinion of the US has lowered in the past two or three years.

While hostility to Mr Bush is generally concentrated among younger voters, it extends to all categories of the population in France with the exception of those who support Jean-Marie Le Pen's extreme right National Front party.

EDIT:// fixed punctuation