Politics

BBC poll: The rest of the world favors Obama, especially France

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A BBC World Service opinion poll of 21,797 people in 21 countries has found that President Barack Obama is overwhelmingly more popular than Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

According to the poll, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA from July 3 to Sept. 3, 50 percent of respondents favored Obama, while only nine percent picked Romney. A sizable 25 percent were not committed to either candidate, and 16 percent did not have an opinion.

The countries with the largest pro-Obama majorities were France (72 percent for Obama, 2 percent for Romney), Nigeria (66 percent for Obama, 11 percent for Romney), Canada (66 percent for Obama, 9 percent for Romney), the UK (65 percent for Obama, 7 percent for Romney) and Australia (67 percent for Obama, 6 percent for Romney).

Romney received the most support in Kenya, where he registered an 18 percent approval rating, compared with Obama’s 66 percent. In Poland, Romney was also able to garner a bit more favor, with 16 percent supporting the Republican, compared to Obama’s 34 percent.

Both candidates received relatively low scores in Pakistan, China, Malaysia and Japan.

Pakistan was the only country where more respondents wanted to see Romney elected. The Washington Post chalked the discrepancy up to opposition to Obama’s secretive, deadly drone program, rather than support for Romney.

According to the BBC’s World Service, the findings vary little from the results of the outfit’s 2008 poll, in which Obama led in all 23 countries surveyed. Of the 15 countries that were polled in both years, Obama’s support rose in seven countries (France, Brazil, the UK, Panama, Indonesia, India and Turkey), declined in four (Kenya, Mexico, Poland, and China) and stayed the same in four (Australia, Canada, Nigeria, and Germany).

In the United States, 51 percent prefer Romney, while 46 percent favor Obama, according to the most recent Gallup poll.

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Caroline May