Most Indians have positive image of US: Survey-18/6/10

Most Indians have positive image of US: Survey

June 18, 2010 21:42 IST

Tags: United States, Barack Obama, Pew Research Center, Ratings of America, Muslim


Most Indians have positive image of the United States, with 66 percent expressing a favourable opinion, as President Barack Obama's [ Images ] job approval rating among his own people declined sharply, an opinion poll suggested on Friday.

Obama remains popular abroad where he gets a thumbs-up for the way he handled the economic crisis, but his job approval rating among his people has declined sharply, according to a new global study conducted by Pew Research Center.

"President Barack Obama remains popular in most parts of the world, although his job approval rating in the US has declined sharply since he first took office," it said.

The survey conducted between April 7 and May 8 also finds that the image of the US as a country is also better than what it was during the presidency of George Bush [ Images ].

In India [ Images ], the superpower gets positive marks with 66 percent expressing a favourable opinion but this is down from last year when 76 percent of the people held this view.

America's overall image has slipped slightly in Indonesia, although 59 percent still give the US a positive rating in the world's largest Muslim nation.

In other Muslim countries, however, the US receives overwhelmingly negative marks especially in Turkey and Pakistan where only 17 percent hold a positive opinion.

The new poll finds opinion of the US slipping in some Muslim countries where opinion had improved in 2009.
In Egypt [ Images ], America's favorability rating dropped from 27 percent to 17 percent -- the lowest percentage observed in any of the Pew Global Attitudes surveys conducted in that country since 2006.

"And while views of Obama are still more positive than were attitudes toward President Bush among most Muslim publics, significant percentages continue to worry that the US could become a military threat to their country," the report said.

The survey also finds that overall opinion of Obama remains broadly positive in most non-Muslim nations. But while president's ratings remain generally positive, his standing is not quite as high in 2010 as it was a year ago.

The new poll by Pew Research Center found fewer in many Asian and Latin American countries saying they have confidence in Obama and approve of his policies generally. Even in Europe the large majorities who were positive are not quite as large as they were in 2009.

In Mexico, however, only 44 percent of Mexicans gave the US a favourable rating following the signing of the bill that deals with illegal immigration by giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.

Before the enactment of the law it was 62 percent.

America gets overwhelmingly positive ratings in Western Europe with 73 percent in France [ Images ] and 63 percent in Germany [ Images ] saying they have a favourable view of the US.

Ratings of America have improved sharply in Russia [ Images ] (57 percent) up 13 percentage points since 2009, in China (58 percent), up 11 points, and in Japan [ Images ] (66 percent), up 7 points.

Opinions are also highly positive in other nations around the world including South Korea (79 percent), Poland (74 percent ) and Brazil [ Images ] (62 percent).
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