U.S. Public's Views On 22 Countries On The "World Stage"

The Gallup Poll recently asked Americans what they thought of 22 countries viewed as being on the "world stage" (meaning, I assume, that they are covered in the news quite a bit). They questioned a random national sample of 837 adults, and the survey has a margin of error of 4 points.

France registered its strongest favorable rating in the last 25 years. It was just the opposite for Russia, who got their lowest favorable rating in the last quarter century.

There were a few surprises, at least for me. I was pleasantly surprised that Cuba cam very close to a split with 46% favorable and 48% unfavorable. It looks like American attitudes toward Cuba is really changing. I was also a bit surprised at the very low favorable ratings for Iraq and Afghanistan. Why are we putting our soldiers in danger in those countries, if we have such a low opinion of them?

I also expected Israel to score a higher favorable rating. But the biggest surprise for me, and the saddest, was the low rating for Mexico -- our friendly nation to the south. Mexico scored only a 55% favorable rating -- lower than Jordan.