surveys conducted by the Gallup Organization in 70 countries
representing nearly half the world's population, 30 percent of
people said they would choose Obama as president of the United
States against eight percent who said they preferred McCain.
In four close US partners in Asia -- Australia, Japan, Singapore
and South Korea -- residents came out clearly in favor of
Obama.
Two-thirds of Japanese and Australian respondents said they
preferred Obama to McCain, who only scored about 15 percent in the
two countries.
In Singapore and South Korea, meanwhile, the pro-Obama vote
outpaced the pro-McCain vote by around two to one.
"McCain and Obama have each pledged to reinvigorate and
strengthen partnerships with the four developed Asian countries and
take a more active role in Asian regional organizations," Gallup
wrote.
Nine out of 10 people polled in India and Pakistan and seven in
10 in Bangladesh said they had no opinion about whom they would
prefer to see in the White House in Washington come next
January.
Gallup said the disinterest among South Asians revealed "a great
disconnect between many of the world's poorest inhabitants and the
politics of the United States."
Latin Americans showed a similar disconnect, with 68 percent of
those polled in central America and Mexico and 58 percent in South
America voicing no opinion about the US election.
Middle Easterners in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon and the
Palestinian Territories chose Obama over McCain by a margin of at
least two to one, although three-quarters of Palestinians said they
didn't think the result of the US election would change much in
their country.
A majority of Europeans in 14 countries said they wanted an
Obama victory, with the Dutch and Norwegians the strongest Obama
supporters in Europe: nearly three-quarters in both countries said
they preferred him to McCain.
In France, 64 percent chose Obama against four percent for
McCain, and in Germany, where an Obama rally in Berlin gathered
some 200,000 people in July, the Democratic presidential contender
was supported by 62 percent of those polled compared with 10
percent for McCain.
In Africa, a median of 56 percent of poll respondents chose
Obama -- meaning the percentage who chose the African American
presidential contender was higher than 56 percent in half the 22
countries polled and lower than 56 percent in the other half.
A median of nine percent chose McCain, who did not beat Obama
anywhere in Africa, even though the current US administration of
Republican President George W. Bush has a high approval rating on
the continent.
Bush in July signed legislation tripling funds to fight the
killer diseases of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa under
an initiative launched under his administration in 2003.
In Kenya, where Obama's father hailed from, the Democrat was
supported by nearly nine in 10 poll respondents; McCain had the
support of three percent of Kenyans.
Around 1,000 people were interviewed face-to-face earlier this
year in most of the countries that took part in the surveys.
Survey sizes in Kuwait, Japan, Pakistan, Mexico and India were
484, 750, 804, 873 and 2,000 people respectively.
