Europe: U.S. A Force For Evil That Must Save Itself By Electing Hussein
If citizens of five leading European countries were electing the next U.S. president, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama would be a shoo-in, according to a new poll that also reveals strong views on America’s global role.
The survey also found that more people in four of the five countries viewed the United States as “a force for evil” in today’s world than “a force for good.”
To a separate question, respondents said Obama was better equipped than McCain “to lead the world economy out of its current difficulties” in all the surveyed countries ( except Russia, where McCain was favored by a 36-28 point margin.)
Only in Italy did more respondents (49-27 percent) consider the U.S. a force for good rather than evil.
In a survey of some 6,200 people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, Obama received 52 percent of the vote to just 15 percent for Republican Sen. John McCain. Sen. Hillary Clinton was not listed as an option in the YouGov poll, conducted for the London Daily Telegraph ’s Internet site.
The biggest gap between the two presumptive candidates was in Germany, where Obama scored 67 percent support to McCain’s six percent. In Russia, the gap was the smallest, with Obama leading by a 31-24 margin.
Respondents in the other three countries also favored Obama by large margins — Italy (70-15), France (65-8) and Britain (49-14).
Of those in the other four countries, Russians were the most anti-American, with 56 percent calling the U.S. a force for evil and only 16 percent a force for good. Germans had the next most negative view (39-25 percent) of America’s global role.
The Telegraph said the Iraq war was probably “the single most important factor” in the growing hostility towards America during the Bush presidency, and noted that McCain strongly supported the war while Obama opposed it.
The strong anti-American sentiment found in Germany was also evident in another recent poll, conducted by the University of Maryland’s program on international policy attitudes (PIPA) for the BBC World Service early this year. Among seven European countries participating in that poll, Germany had by far the most negative views of U.S. influence (72 percent).
Nevertheless, reports from Germany show a level of enthusiasm for Obama perhaps unmatched elsewhere in Europe. Speculation is rife this week that the Democrat — who is often compared in Germany to John F. Kennedy — may visit Berlin over the summer.
“The ‘new Kennedy’ wants to visit Berlin,” the Stern newsweekly reported, while Der Spiegel quoted Karsten Voigt, the German government’s coordinator for trans-Atlantic relations, as declaring that “Germany is Obamaland.”
“If a U.S. presidential hopeful visits Berlin, holding a speech at the Brandenburg Gate and going afterward to the Kennedy Museum, it provides powerful images for the American electorate,” Voight told Tagesspiegel, a daily newspaper.
President Kennedy famously visited Berlin in 1963, delivering a speech in support of West Germany shortly after the erection of the Berlin Wall.
If the Democratic Party finds in the European poll cause to celebrate as its bruising nomination battle comes to an end, a reminder from four years ago may provide reason for caution.
In a PIPA poll conducted two months before the 2004 presidential election, respondents in those same five European countries favored Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry over Bush by large margins: Germany (Kerry by 74-10), France (64-5), Italy (58-14), Britain (47-16) and Russia (20-10).
Bush beat Kerry by more than two percent of the popular vote and by 35 Electoral College votes.
 |
|
