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WASHINGTON: Democrat Barack Obama’s bid to become the first
African-American US president has raised hopes in Europe and Africa,
where majorities foresee a positive change in US foreign policy, a
survey revealed on Thursday.
While Obama received more positive marks overall
than his Republican rival John McCain among the 24 countries
surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes project, not all looked forward
to improvement with November’s election.
“Excepting countries that are extremely
anti-American, the Muslim countries, we find most people saying that
they think that the next president will represent a change for the
better with respect to foreign policy,” said Pew president Andrew
Kohut.
At least one-third of respondents in Lebanon,
Egypt, Jordan anticipated that US foreign policy would change for
the worse with a new US president, no matter who is elected, while
the number of those expecting a positive change ranked 30, 25 and 19
percent respectively.
In contrast, more than two-thirds of respondents
in France, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Germany saw
change for the better.
When it came specifically to Obama, a
46-year-old Illinois senator and son of a Kenyan father and white
American mother, the highest confidence ratings came from Tanzania
and France (84 percent), Germany (82), Australia (80), Japan (77)
and Britain (74).
“People around the world who have been paying
attention to the American election express more confidence in Barack
Obama than John McCain to do the right thing regarding world
affairs,” the report said.
The survey was taken of more than 24,000 people
in 24 countries.
-- AFP
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