The US takes yet another pounding in world survey

The US' image abroad has worsened further over the last year, with only 29 percent of people worldwide viewing it as a positive influence, a poll showed yesterday.

The figure was down 7 percent from 36 percent in 2005/2006, which was 4 percent lower than the 40 percent who held a favorable view in 2004/2005.

An of only 29 percent of some 18,000 people surveyed in 18 countries over the last three months believed that the US is having a mainly positive influence internationally, the poll for the BBC World Service said.

Some percent of the total disapproved of US President George W. Bush's handling of the military campaign in Iraq, with 49 percent of respondents saying Washington was playing a mainly negative role internationally.

In Britian, 81 percent disapproved of US actions in Iraq, where the UK is the main US ally.

Some percent of Americans themselves disapproved of Bush's Iraq policy. The same proportion said their country was having a mainly positive effect worldwide, but that was down from 71 percent two years ago.

In all the countries surveyed, 68 percent believed that US troops in the Middle East provoked more conflict than they prevented, compared to only 17 percent who saw them as a stabilizing force.

There were also widespread disapproval of US handling of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay (67 percent), the Israel-Hezbollah war (65 percent), Iran's nuclear program (60 percent), global warming (56 percent), and North Korea's nuclear program (54 percent).

The interviews were carried out between between Nov. 9 and Jan. 9 by GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes, both based in the US.