More Bad News for Bush
Aussie Dave | Oct 17, 2004 | 3 comments
The polls are not painting a pretty picture for George Bush, with another poll indicating that John Kerry is the candidate of choice amongst most US allies.
Polls commissioned by newspapers in 10 countries show that most citizens in U.S. allies prefer John Kerry to George Bush, the Guardian has reported.Voters in eight U.S. allies — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain and South Korea — all said by wide margins that they would prefer to see the Massachusetts senator beat the incumbent U.S. president in the election on November 2.Of the 10 countries that participated, those polled in only two — Israel and Russia — preferred Bush.On average, voters in the 10 countries favoured Kerry by a margin of 54 percent to 27 percent.The polls were commissioned by newspapers in each of the countries, including the Guardian, France’s le Monde, Spain’s El Pais and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. Each was carried out by a local polling firm; the Guardian’s by pollsters ICM.The Guardian, which opposed the war in Iraq, said the results showed Bush “has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world since September 11″.By wide margins, voters in all the countries but Israel and South Korea said their opinions of the United States had worsened over the past two or three years. In all, 57 percent said their view of America had worsened, while only 20 percent said it improved.Yet despite their worsening opinion of America, 68 percent of those polled still said they like Americans as people. Respondents
said they still believe U.S. democracy is an example to other nations, by a margin of 52 to 42.Predictably, France, which strongly opposed the war in Iraq, was the most pro-Kerry country of the 10. The senator was favoured
by 72 percent, against 16 percent for Bush.But Kerry also wins in Washington’s closest battlefield ally Britain, by a margin of 50 percent to 22 percent.Mexicans prefer Kerry to Bush 55-20, Spaniards 58-13, and Australians 54-28. Israelis prefer Bush by a margin of 50 percent to 24 percent.
While the Israel result is predictable, I am somewhat surprised at the Australian result, especially the margin in favor of Kerry. Perhaps John Howard’s recent election victory had less to do with the war on Iraq than previously thought? Or do these results suggest something else? I am open to suggestions.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
I think the result in almost all countries is due to the fact that the only information they get about Bush is through the media, and the media hate Bush.
Australians can be cynical. They chose Howard over ‘L ‘Plate’ Latham because he would likely less affect their hip pocket. Latham scared people with his ambiguity on a variety of issues especially taxes and his pledges were decried as undeliverable by many. He clearly showed he was not ready to govern, with his brazen attitude. He threatened to ‘rock the boat’.
Many also begrudgingly accept that the Iraq ‘mistake’ has been made and no value can be drawn from compounding the problem by pulling our troops before time. This was going to strain the Alliance which people didn’t really want to do. The Spanish withdrawal was seen as a disgrace, gutless. However, they don’t appreciate that George W. led us down the Iraq warpath on questionable evidence, and so condemn him for that.
They mostly believe that John Howard trusted the information provided by the US to go to war, and in any case would have been under considerable pressure to join in, as would any incumbent leader including ‘L-Plate’ Latham.
They also know that terrorists will climb over the nearest gentile to kill a Jew and that in the absence of Jews they will kill gentiles. We all know that left to themselves (the Arabs) will kill each other.
Wait… Is France a U.S. ally?