A survey of global attitudes towards Barack Obama's presidency reveals ebbing enthusiasm for his policies, yet overwhelming European support for a second term.
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New research by Pew International shows that, across Europe, citizens overwhelmingly back Barack Obama’s re-election:
“There is still considerable support for his re-election in many countries, especially in Europe.
“Roughly nine-in-ten in France (92%) and Germany (89%) would like to see him re-elected, as would large majorities in Britain (73%), Spain (71%), Italy (69%) and the Czech Republic (67%).”
Although the percentage of Britons holding a broadly favourable view of the United States has declined by nine points over the course of Obama’s first term, a solid 60% majority retains such a view.
Moreover, 80% of Britons have confidence in Obama’s presidency: only 16% said the same of George W. Bush in 2008.
The latter figure, alongside the strong pan-European support for his reelection, suggests genuine support for Obama in and of himself, as opposed to a pragmatic preference for him over Mitt Romney.
However, the report does show that the global perceptions of Barack Obama – in particular on specific issues – reveals that worldwide approval of Obama has declined significantly over the past four years:
“In nearly every country where trends are available, support for Obama’s international policies has declined over the last three years“,
“On a number of specific issues, there is a sense that Obama has not lived up to the expectations people had for him when he first took office.”
These include climate change, relations between Israel and the Palestinians, and multilateral foreign policy.
On the final issue:
“there remains a widespread perception that the U.S. acts unilaterally and does not consider the interests of other countries”.
The use of drone strikes as a major counter-terrorist strategy emerges as a particular concern, with over 50% of respondents in 17 out of 20 countries featured in the research opposing their use.
See also:
• Cold War era tensions re-emerge as US accuse Russia of arming Syrian government 13 June 2012
• One year on from slaying Bin Laden, Obama heralds “new chapter” in Afghanistan 2 May 2012
• Barack Obama’s 2012 4 January 2012
• Obama mocks the mad Right and makes the case for the State 9 September 2011
• President Obama’s state visit: Round-up from America 25 May 2011
17 Responses to “If Britons elected the US president, it’d be a landslide for Obama”
Mr. Sensible
But what people must also remember is that if you cut, cut, cut, you shrink your economy, and your deficit and debt gets worse. That’s what we are seeing in Britain and in the Eurozone.
On climate change ETC, it’s worth remembering that Obama, for all his plans, is hamstrung by a Republican-conroled House of Representatives who, as far as I gather, have voted against environmental regulations. The Obama camp need to show voters who is really responsible for slowness on this.
BevR
RT @leftfootfwd: If Britons elected the US president, it'd be a landslide for Obama http://t.co/Jqs8hufE
JC
And if the US citizens elected a British Prime Minister, they’d probably vote Cameron. So what?
Anonymous
Sure, tell them that you need to pay up equal to your percentage of the wealth.
Also, you have no idea about SS I see. It’s a separate fund, and can’t be funded separately…it’s about 2024 before it’ll run out of bonds, and it’ll then drop the payouts by roughly a quarter. Keep on with the propaganda, though – SS is protected against your style of slash and burn raiding of the 99%.
G20: Is Obama drawing a line between his approach and Cameron & Merkel’s austerity? | Left Foot Forward
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