I think the poll is accurate. Bush is not popular at all in the rest of the world. For Germany, I would immediately believe that 74 % prefer Kerry. That being said, it is true, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The rest of the world does not elect the President of the USA. I still think Bush will win.
Wow...let's vote for leaders that Europe likes. These are the same people that have selected officials that have led to their countries having unemployment that has NEVER dropped below 8%. They also have tax rates at or above 50%. Shining examples of people you want to select the next United States President.
Polling people of other countries about our election is just plain whack. Seriously, just how informed can they be about the candidates?
where do you get most of your information about our candidates, the news and the internet i believe, you know most countries have those facilities too. PLus American politics are always covered a lot overseas. Atleast in south asia and aarabia.
I would venture a guess that those polled, for the most part, know nothing about John Kerry, except that he is not Bush. If I was polled on the election of another country, I would likely have no opinion on the challenger, and probably only a general one of the incumbent. My opinion might boil down to whether I think the incumbent should stay or go, regardless of the challenger. All this really tells us is that Bush is unpopular outside the US.
I would be willing to bet the average European follows American politics more closely than the average American. Nothing against Americans, but they are, as a whole, more intellectually curious and more interested in politics than we are here. I am sure there's data somewhere that backs that up. I was in my favorite Houston bar on my last visit there and ran into a soldier on leave from Iraq. He was a spotter for army snipers. I asked him how he thought things were going there and he told me to read the British press. I said yeah, but a lot of people are saying the American media is only reporting the bad news and the British media's even worse. He repeated, read the British press. He was not against the war, though he did say it was going badly. He also said he supported Bush's re-election. But he also said the BBC, The Guardian, et al, were much, much closer to reporting the real story than our papers here. It's important to understand that other countries view us much differently than we view them. We are the only superpower in the world and, as such, our actions and our politics are of profound interest to them. How we conduct the "WOT" impacts them deeply, as seen in Spain, and you can be sure they are paying attention.
The numbers don't surprise me at all. It just confirms what I've known since Bush decided to invade and occupy Iraq... that the world community thought it was rash and ill-conceived, which has been proven in spades long ago. The world thinks that way, obviously, as do many Americans. If they don't allow the fear-machine of the Republican Party to scare them into voting for the worst President since Nixon, or, more likely, not voting at all, then Kerry will be able to make real progress improving our foreign relations. That is important, regardless of what some of you think, as is getting closer to our Allies of long standing. Even in Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) is Bush's closest ally in the war on terror, Kerry trounced the incumbent 47 percent to 16 percent. Even among countries that have contributed troops to Iraq (news - web sites), most favored Kerry, and said that their view of US foreign policy has gotten worse under Bush. They included Britain, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Japan, Norway and Spain. Strongest negative views on US foreign policy were held in Germany, with 83 percent of those polled saying "worse" followed by France (81 percent), Mexico (78 percent), China (72 percent), Canada (71 percent), Netherlands ( 71 percent), Spain (67 percent), Brazil (66 percent), Italy (66 percent), Argentina (65 percent) and Britain (64 percent). http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...ry_040908164913 UNEMPLOYMENT WORLDWIDE Germany 9.8% France 9.4% Canada 7.2% United States 5.6% UK 4.8% Japan 4.6% Britain still has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world at 4.8% compared with the United States (5.6%) France (9.4%) and Germany (9.8%). "Unemployment is the lowest for nearly 30 years... We have the second lowest unemployment of the major economies, after Japan," Minister for Work Jane Kennedy said on Wednesday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3892709.stm Why do the British want Kerry elected, when they have one of the best economies in the world? Why do I keep trying to talk to people who don't listen? The stakes are pretty damn high, and I love my country. That's why.
I would not dare to make a general statement about this. But I think that at least in Houston, especially, local news media is very much focused on local news, and so is the majority of the people. That was something I found striking when I first came to Houston. Local, state, maybe national news (but more the human interest stuff, less the political facts), hardly any international news at the time (1995/96). I would assume that times may have changed a bit in that regard with the global war on terror going on, but back then, I could definitely say that the average European followed at least the US stance on international issues very closely - not, however, domestic political issues in the US. Nowadays, I would still say that the average European follows international politics more closely than the average American. However, among the very educated people, it is probably similar.
"The US will not seek a permission slip to defend its people" I think that quote put it nicely. Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? Since when did America become a teenage girl obsessed with how she is viewed by others? Russia is beginning to see what we were talking about. Slowly, the rest of the world will, too. The vast majority of the world views America as a big bully and they're free to think what they want to think. You have to ask yourself if the leaders of these countries really agree with their people...I don't think they do. It's politically profitable to be Anti-American in any other country in the world, save Britain and Australia. But, with America so vital to the survival of many of these countries, why would they do it? Because they know that America has an inferiority complex and wants to be seen as doing good in the world. Leaders of other countries of the world pick up on this sentiment and condemn any and all US action while still accepting the aid they KNOW the US will contine to offer. It's the best of both worlds. It was once said that you can judge a man by his enemies. Bush's main enemies/detractors: Kim Jong-Il Saddam Hussein (when he was in power) Yasser Arafat Fidel Castro There are others...many others. Why do you think these guys are fighting/praying so hard to get Kerry elected? Because they know that John Kerry will look the other way when it comes to weapons and terrorism until something catastrophic happens again. George Bush would equal 4 more years of trouble for those guys. Why would you not want that?
Weanies don't do the tough work. I wonder where Russia will come out on this now-- after what happened to them?
Hilarious. Those are America's enemies. That didn't start with Bush and it won't end with him. Kerry will look the other way? Where do you get that nonsense? Instructive that you didn't list Osama, considering none of the enemies you listed has ever attacked us and he has.
The same place they were before. I don't understand why people keep acting like the Chechen conflict just started yesterday. You might not have paid much attention to it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Just like 9/11 changed everything.... Scores of children are now dead in this most-brazen act of terrorism.
