18.11.2005 Korea. The president of Russia Vladimir Putin (R) and the President of the USA George Bush (L) at a business meeting in the South-Korean city of Busan.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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George Bush Has Paid off His Credit
// The outgoing U.S. President became one of the most unpopular politicians of the world
The world-renowned public opinion researcher – the Pew Research Center – published the outcome of its survey featuring the attitudes of the citizens of 24 states towards the future power transition in the USA. The survey “Anti-Americanism and the Expectations for the Coming of a new U.S. President” showed that the negative image of America has much to do with the aversion to George Bush’s policy. People want to see Barack Obama, rather than Mr Bush’s successor John McCain, a new chief of the White House. Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is believed to be #1 in the Russian politics, is very unpopular in the world, too. Kommersant special correspondent Dmitry Sidorov reports from Washington.
The latest annual Pew Research Center survey was presented in a reputed think-tank Center For American Progress, Monday. Pew Research Center leading experts – Bruce Stokes and Richard Wike – gave the details of the survey.
A major part of the report was devoted to the international stance towards the world’s key event of the year – the presidential race in the USA. Interestingly, there is a range of states in the world where the American election arouses even a bigger interest than in America proper, which has been seized with the pre-election challenges. According to the poll, half of the respondents in Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Australia and Jordan “are following the presidential race in the USA” (only 47% of Americans have the same interest in their own election).
Richard Wike, who delivered the report, explained that the surge in the interest is linked with the hope for the forthcoming changes in the American policy, which are associated with Barack Obama. These hopes secured his advantage over the Republican candidate John McCain in the view of the foreign audience. In Germany the advantage amounted to 59%, in Spain – to 53%, in Great Britain – to 30%. Curiously, regardless of Mr McCain’s anti-Russian rhetoric, the Republican is only 17 points behind Barack Obama in Russia.
At the same time the global trend found out by Pew Research doesn’t work in America proper. The Pew survey revealed that both candidates have the same chances: John McCain got 60%, and Barack Obama – 59%.
Richard Wike’s colleague Bruce Stokes gave the reason for the nature of the current stage of anti-Americanism. According to the expert, the significant difference of opinions with the American and European audiences is evidence of the aversion to George Bush’s foreign policy, which is typical of the Old World. Two thirds of respondents in 14 lands out of 24 either have little confidence in the U.S. leader, or have lost any trust in him.
For all that, Bruce Stokes warned that in case Barack Obama wins, the period of the European’s high hopes concerning the new U.S. President may be too short. From the expert’s viewpoint, it’s due to the problems that any U.S. President will have to face. For example, Obama and McCain share similar views on the necessity of intensifying the war on terror in Afghanistan. In particular, both of them support the surge in NATO’s European contingent in that country (whereas the majority of those polled urged a withdrawal of the multinational forces from Afghanistan as soon as possible).
Besides the focus on the American politics, the authors of the research touched upon Russia as well, which held its presidential elections in 2008. The report reads that the international rating of Vladimir Putin, who changed the presidential office with the premier one, remains pretty low. The overwhelming majority of those polled in France (82%), Spain (80%), Poland (78%), Germany (60%) and several other states expressed their negative attitudes towards Mr Putin. The respondents in the Middle East side with those polled in Europe: 74% of Egyptians, 72% of Jordanians, 70% of Turks and 59% of Libyans share the same view.
The commentary on the outcome of the survey also reads that within a year “the stance towards Vladimir Putin deteriorated in a number of states.” For instance, Vladimir Putin lost 13% in Mexico, and now his approval rating in that country is 10% only. In India 10% of respondents have lost confidence in the Russian Prime Minister, dropping his index to 33%. In Great Britain Vladimir Putin lost 9%, with his rating amounting to 28%. The fall in Vladimir Putin’s popularity is indicated even in China. This year 46% of respondents assessed him positively, whereas last year this figure was 57%.
Russia’s PM can find sort of comfort in the fact that the U.S. President’s approval rating is even lower. In all European countries, with the exception of Poland, they trust Vladimir Putin more than George Bush.
Another conclusion of Pew, which will hardly please the Russian government, is the concern of the majority of the Europeans with their dependence on Russia’s energy resources. 67% of the British, 66% of Poles, 62% of Germans and 58% of French are among those concerned.
However, the outcome of the poll in Russia became the most interesting part of the report. According to the survey, 48% of Russians believe that after the reshuffle in the Russian government Prime Minister Putin will have more power than President Medvedev. At the same time only 22% of respondents think that the President and the Prime Minister will have the same power.
At the end of the day, the Pew research points out that Russians are likely to support the strong hand, rather than democracy, regardless of the final distribution of powers in the country.
Dmitry Sidorov
All the Article in Russian as of June 18, 2008
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