An Image Worse Than China

There was a poll taken throughout the world recently that gave and interesting result. It shows how George Bush has damaged the image of the U.S., perhaps irreparably. The international poll shoes the United States' popularity in many countries, including long-time allies in Europe, since the election of Bush, is lagging behind even totalitarian China.
The image of the U.S. slipped sharply in 2003 after Bush's one man invasion of Iraq, and two years later has shown few signs of rebounding either in Western Europe or the Muslim nations. "the image has improved only slightly but is still broadly negative," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. "It's amazing when you see the European public rating the United States so poorly, especially in comparison with China." Here are some of the highlights of that poll.
1) In Britain, which has always had the closet relationship to the U.S., almost two-thrids of those polled, 65% saw China favorably, compared with 55% who held a positive view of the U.S.
2) In France, 58% of the respondents saw China favorably, compared with 43% who viewed the U.S. that way. The results were almost the same also in Spain and Holland.
3) The United States favorable rating was lowest among the three Muslim countries that are also supposedly U.S. allies- Turkey, Pakistan and Jordan.
Only 19% of those poled there saw the U.S. as a favorable country, and in that region only India viewed the U.S more positively than China. This is just another indication of the destructive power of George Bush. How else could a Communist country that gives little individual freedom be seen as more positive than a nation with the most democratic freedoms ever in the history of the world. that people see China s the hope and the U.S. as a cancer is part of the legacy Bush is creating. Yet, almost half of Americans still support Bush and believe him to be a champion of justice.
Unbelievable, isn't it? During the Clinton years the image of the U.S. abroad was positive almost everywhere on the globe.