Dubya's Surge in Popularity

The BBC World Service has just published a huge poll on US (for which read Duya's) influence in the world. Some highlights:In all, 26,381 people were questioned in 25 countries. Almost three in four people disapproved of U.S. policy on Iraq, while two-thirds disapproved of U.S. handling of terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay camp. "The U.S. administration's recent decision to send more troops to Iraq is at odds with global public opinion ... This policy is likely to further hurt America's image," Doug Miller, president of pollsters GlobeScan, said. Sixty-five percent disapproved of U.S. policy on last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, 60 percent of its handling of Iran's nuclear program, 56 percent of its stance on global warming and 54 percent of its policy on North Korea's nuclear program. More than two-thirds believed the U.S. military presence in the Middle East provoked more conflict than it prevented and only 17 percent thought U.S.troops there were a stabilizing force. The poll found that the American public also seemed to have serious doubts about U.S. foreign policy. Majorities of Americans polled disapproved of how the United States was handling the war in Iraq (57 percent) and global warming (54 percent) while half disapproved of U.S. policy on Guantanamo and Iran.

The poll, carried out between November 3, 2006 and January 9, 2007 covered Argentina,Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary,India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines,Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United States.