Disturbing Polls

The World Service survey recently did a study of 25 nations—including the US—asking general and specific questions about the role of the US in the international community. These ranged from whether the respondents agreed with our position on global warming to generally whether they thought we provided a positive influence on the world. Now before the liberal amongst you respond with cynicism (“Of course they think we suck—we do!”) and the conservative amongst you respond with spite (“Of course they think we suck—it’s always in vogue to resent your benefactors!”), you should read the BBC write-up of the study. It is beyond disturbing.

 

To give you a tidbit: two years ago the percentage of individuals who responded that the US has a positive impact on the world was 40%. It is down to 29%. If that doesn’t scare you, let’s try domestic opinion. “But among Americans, the number of those who viewed thir country’s role positively fell to 57%--six percentage points down from last year and 14 percentage points down from two years ago.” You know things are bad when even our nationalistic pride is hurting in the polls.

 

Read the write-up for yourselves: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6286755.stm.

 

-W.