The World Prefers Obama

The BBC World Service has just conducted a poll to see what the rest of the world thinks of the presidential race in the United States. They polled 22,500 people in 22 different countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom).

By a 4-1 margin, the average of people in all 22 countries wanted Obama to win the election. Those favoring Obama were 49% and those who favored McCain were 12% of the total. The remaining 39% did not have a preference.

Those polled were also asked if each candidate would improve or worsen relations with the rest of the world. About 46% thought Obama would improve relations, while 22% said relations would remain the same and 7% thought they would worsen. Only 20% thought relations would improve under McCain, while 37% said they would remain the same and 16% thought they would worsen.

The countries that had the most optimistic attitude about Obama improving relations with the world were Kenya-87%, Nigeria-71%, Canada-69%, Italy-64%, Australia-62%, France-62%, Germany-61%, and United Kingdom-54%. Only three countries, by a small margin, thought McCain would improve relations -- China, India and Nigeria.

At the same time the world poll was conducted, the BBC also asked 1,000 Americans the same questions. About 46% of Americans thought Obama would improve world relations, while 30% thought McCain would improve them.

Perhaps most interesting was when the world respondents were asked if the election of an African-American would "fundamentally change" their perception of the United States. 46% said it would and 27% said it wouldn't.

It's pretty obvious what the rest of the world thinks. They prefer Obama, and hope America has progressed enough to elect an African-American. They would see that as a sign the U.S. was ready to treat other countries fairly -- even those with a non-white population. Americans may not like it, but most of the world views us as racist and would welcome proof that we have changed.

It's obvious that the huge majority of Americans don't want to continue the current Republican policies. Even the Republicans can see that, and they're trying to hide their current president and vice-president from the voting public in the hope that McCain won't be tarred with the same brush. But people are not that stupid. They know McCain will continue Bush policies.

The Republicans know that both houses of Congress are lost, and they have only one hope to keep the presidency. That hope is that America is still too racist a country to elect an African-American as president.

Are we still that racist? We will find out in November.