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 Editorials | Issues | April 2008 
New Poll Says Attitudes Toward America are Improving
 NY Daily News
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Acccording to a poll from the BBC World Service, the average percentage of people who believe that the United States has a positive influence has increased more than ten percent from last year, from 31% to 35%.
Meanwhile, the number of people who believe that the United States has a negative influence fell almost ten percent, from 52% to 47%.
The poll was taken between November 2007 and January 2008. 17,000 people in 34 different countries were interviewed.
While perceptions of the U.S. improved in 11 out of the 23 countries that were also in last year's poll, perceptions of the U.S. got worse in three countries - Canada, Egypt and Lebanon.
This year's results came after three straight years of decline for the U.S.
The country most positively viewed in the poll was Germany. Iran and Israel were viewed most negatively.
Positive perceptions of Russia showed the greatest increase, going from 29% to 37%.
The survey was undertaken by the international polling firm GlobeScan with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
PIPA director Steven Kull believes that the improved views of the U.S. may have something to do with 2008 being an election year.
"It may be that as the U.S. approaches a new presidential election, views of the U.S. are being mitigated by hope that a new administration will move away from the foreign policies that have been so unpopular in the world," he said.
The BBC World Service poll has been tracking attitudes about the influence of countries since 2005. |
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