No, this post is not about Ben Shapiro's sexual frustrations.
It's about an anxious world.
This November, when you cast your vote against Alfred E. President, take some satisfaction that you aren't just, as it were, speaking for yourself, but you're also speaking for the millions who can only watch our election with dread, people who are (negatively, almost always) affected by our leadership and its policies, yet have no say.
And they are legion:
"It is absolutely clear that John Kerry would win handily if the people of the world could vote," said Steve Kull, director of The Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland, a co-sponsor of the survey. "It is rather striking that just one in five people surveyed around the world support the re-election of President Bush."
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The poll of 34,330 people older than 15 from all regions of the world found that the majority or plurality of people from 32 countries prefer Kerry to Bush.
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Asia was the region showing the most mixed results, although Kerry still did better than Bush. Kerry won clear majorities in China, Indonesia and Japan, but slipped past Bush by only a slight margin in Thailand and India.
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The most negative attitude toward the U.S. came from France, Germany and Mexico, where roughly 80 percent of those surveyed thought that the foreign policies of President Bush had made them feel worse about the United States.
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In addition to presidential preferences, the poll also inquired about people's views on U.S. foreign policy.
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"We found an unusually low level of support for U.S. foreign policy," Kull said. "This runs in line with trends from recent attitude surveys by the Pew Research Center and may have implications when the U.S. wants to move forward on issues with its closest allies."
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The polling in a total of 35 countries was conducted by The Program on International Policy Attitudes and the polling company GlobeScan Incorporated during a period ranging from several days to several weeks, starting in mid-May and running through early September.
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Most traditional U.S. allies came out strongly favoring Kerry, while only those polled in Nigeria, Poland and the Philippines preferred Bush.
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"Even where the president does beat John Kerry, there is no enthusiasm apparent from the numbers," Kull said. "Those countries that support him for re-election also tend not to like his foreign policy."
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The only country where Bush received support from more than half of those polled was the Philippines, where 57 percent supported his election, compared with 32 percent who supported Kerry. About one third of those polled in Nigeria and Poland gave their support to Bush, while support for Kerry ran at a margin of about five percentage points lower.
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Norway and Germany tied - at 74 percent - as the countries where those polled most strongly support Kerry. Canadians preferred Kerry by a ratio of 61 percent to 16 percent for Bush.
I think Nigeria's love of Bush/Cheney is self-explanatory. Poland's is going downhill steadily; they don't appreciate the slap Bush gave them over visa limitations, especially after risking so much by joining in on Iraq (Bush did not deliver the quo to that quid). As for the Phillipines, I'll just concede, though it's possible that the pollsters' calls were accidentally routed to Michelle Malkin's cell.
Anyway, there you have it. The world fears, loathes, and disrespects Bush. Plainly the world isn't as scary and insane as I'd thought, but then I guess I've always known that most of the scary and insane people are my neighbours. Speak for those without a voice; be an internationalist human instead of a
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posted by RETARDO MONTALBAN @ 5:58 AM
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