Since Barack Obama entered office, the world’s view of the United States has ‘improved sharply,’ according to a poll carried out by the BBC World Service.
Nearly 30,000 people in 28 countries were asked to rate countries on their positive impact upon the world. This year 46% of the respondents rated the US’s influence as positive – the first time since 2005 that the survey returned more positive votes than negative for America.
"After a year, it appears the ‘Obama effect’ is real" said Steven Kull director Program on International Policy Attitudes (Pipa) at the University of Maryland, who helped conduct the poll.
"Its influence on people’s views worldwide, though, is to soften the negative aspects of the United States’ image, while positive aspects are not yet coming into strong focus."
In Germany, positive ratings for the United States jumped from 18% in 2009 to 39% this year. Jumps like this and others helped the US overtake China in the rankings, where positive ratings dropped to 41%
The only two countries to have seen a drop in positive views of the US are Turkey and India.
Despite this, the US still trails behind other countries with higher ratings. Germany is the most favorably viewed nation (an average of 59% positive), followed by Japan (53%), the United Kingdom (52%), Canada (51%), and France (49%).
At the other end of the list, Iran is the least favorably viewed nation (15%), followed by Pakistan (16%), North Korea (17%), Israel (19%), and Russia (30%).
Read detailed poll findings here
World’s Opinion Of U.S. Has ‘Improved Sharply’ Under Obama, Says BBC Poll
