Poll: World happier with Obama than with Bush
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A billboard in Minnesota shows George Bush asking the world: Miss me yet?
A new poll has the answer: Not so much.
President Obama has had a tough first year dealing with domestic issues, but according to the latest polls, he has chalked up a success in how the rest of the world sees the United States.
The U.S.-Global Leadership Project, a partnership between the Meridian International Center and Gallup, found that a median 51% of the world approved of the Obama administration’s performance, up from 34% with Bush in 2008.
According to Gallup, the global median approval of U.S. leadership remained relatively steady from 2005 to 2008. In 2009, it hit 51% for the first time since Gallup began asking the question worldwide in 2005.
The latest poll confirms much of the feelings about the last years of the Bush administration and the first year of Obama’s. Bush and his administration were increasingly disliked as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars dragged on, and there were continuing questions about U.S. leadership on economic and environmental issues. Obama, who campaigned against the Bush legacy, was treated with rock-star status during his overseas campaign trips and was awarded a surprising Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office.
According to Gallup, the latest poll data showed significant improvements in how the United States was seen in all four major global regions, with the largest year-over-year increase in Europe, particularly a thorn in Bush’s side. Median approval of U.S. leadership increased by 28 percentage points, Gallup found.
The highest approval came in Africa, where approval is historically high. However, the northern, mainly Arab areas such as Egypt, remained low, while approval in sub-Saharan Africa was high.
-- Michael Muskal
President Barack Obama speaks as former President George W. Bush (R) listens in the Rose Garden of the White House January 16, 2010. President Obama and the former Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton spoke about the efforts to coordinate American Charitable aid to the earthquake victims in Haiti.
