US President Barack Obama would cruise to re-election in November if Europeans and Japanese could vote, but his popularity is slipping in China and Muslim nations, according to a poll released yesterday.
A month-long, 21-nation survey by the Pew Research Center found approval of Obama has sharply declined since he took office in early 2009, and US economic clout is increasingly seen to be waning, even among key US allies in Europe.
However, despite some general disappointment with the president’s policies, Europeans fervently support his re-election, including in France, where 92 percent of respondents want to see a second Obama term.
Nearly nine in 10 Germans also favor his reelection, along with 73 percent of British respondents. About 72 percent of Brazilians also want to see Obama re-elected, as do two-thirds of Japanese respondents.
Such numbers would be a godsend for Obama domestically, where he is locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Republican challenger Mitt Romney. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll put Obama ahead 47-43 percent against his rival.
Obama is facing strong opposition in some key spots overseas, Pew said. In China, confidence in Obama has plunged by 24 points and approval of his policies has dropped 30 points. Just 31 percent of Chinese want Obama re-elected, compared with 39 percent who do not. And in Russia, a country with which the Obama administration pledged to “reset” troubled relations, 25 percent are in favor of his re-election and 27 percent opposed.
Even in Europe, where support is high, confidence in Obama has dropped by 6 points, from 86 percent to 80 percent, since 2009.
There is broader opposition to Obama in the Muslim world, where criticism of US foreign policy runs high even after the administration’s support for last year’s pro-democracy protests in Egypt and elsewhere. In Lebanon, 62 percent do not want four more years of Obama. In Jordan the figure is 73 percent, and in Egypt it rises to a startling 76 percent.
“America’s image is more positive than it was before [Obama] came in office, in Europe, in Brazil, in Japan, in some parts of the world,” said Richard Wike, associate director of Pew’s Global Attitudes Project.
“In many Muslim countries we haven’t seen the same Obama effect on America’s image that we’ve seen elsewhere,” he said.
In Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Jordan, less than three in 10 expressed confidence in Obama.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS