Obama's popularity abroad on the wane, survey finds

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

US leadership has lost some of its luster abroad, suggesting President Barack Obama can't count on as much global euphoria as he gears up for a fierce reelection campaign, a new survey found Thursday.

The report card was particularly dire from Serbia and Iran where approval ratings for the White House were below 10 percent. India, Cyprus, Belarus and Egypt also gave the Obama administration less than stellar marks.

Overall, median approval ratings for Washington's leadership across 136 countries stood at 46 percent in 2011 -- largely unchanged from 47 percent across a smaller sample of 116 states a year earlier, but better than during the final years of George W. Bush's presidency.

Approval ratings for the original pool of 116 countries, meanwhile, declined from 47 percent to 43 percent between 2010 and 2011.

"US leadership ratings in 2011 failed to regain the momentum they lost in 2010 and instead remained static or retreated even more in some places," said the "US-Global Leadership Project" report, released jointly by Gallup and the Meridian International Center.

Ratings were strongest in Africa due to enthusiasm in the sub-Saharan part of the continent, the study said. Scores were less rosy in North Africa, however.

The lowest ratings in the region were recorded in Egypt, where a mere 19 percent of those surveyed showed approval for Washington -- virtually unchanged despite the revolution that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

In Europe, meanwhile, the picture was mixed.

The highest and lowest ratings were recorded in the Balkans, with 90 percent of Kosovars saying they approved of US leadership, compared to just eight percent of Serbians. Obama has been a steadfast supporter of Kosovo's independence, anathema to Serbians.

Cyprus gave Washington a mere 18 percent approval rating. Belarus, often criticized for human rights issues, came in at 19 percent.

While Washington's approval increased by double digits in Britain and Belgium in 2011, it lost favor on other fronts, including double-digit declines in France, Germany, Spain and Sweden.

________

 

Survey says: smart diplomacy not working out so well...

[Rokke]

Some of the comments after that story are really funny. Like..."His team is popular in Columbia."

 

As for the survey, no where in the article does it say where it came from. Standard AFP act. Don't ask us where we got our numbers. Just accept them as true. There is a short blurb on the poll demographics. Mind you, the article wants us to think the whole world has been polled...

 

"The results were based on interviews with approximately 1,000 individuals aged 15 and older in 2010 and 2011. The maximum margin of error ranges from 1.7 percentage points to 5.7 percentage points."