Obama wins by a landslide - the votes are in!
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The new American President is Barack Obama, who has beaten John McCain into a distant second place. At least, according to the "votes" of a sample of Europeans.
The Daily Telegraph (via the YouGov opinion polling organization) has conducted a poll of a sample of voters in five European countries - Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, and discovered how they would vote in the US Presidential election (assuming that it will be between Obama and McCain) were they allowed to, which of course they are not! The total sample size was 6,256.
According to the Europeans, McCain will only get 15% of the vote, with Obama getting 52%. The breakdown by country is:
Britain: Obama 49% McCain 14%
France: Obama 65% McCain 8%
Germany: Obama 67% McCain 6%
Italy: Obama 70% McCain 15%
Russia: Obama 31% McCain 24%
As you can see, there are plenty of respondents who would vote for neither candidate or are "don't knows" - In Russia, 28% said they would vote for a different candidate, Ralph Nader presumably.
The respondents were also asked if they saw the United States as a force for good or for evil in the World, and the results were as follows:
Britain: Good 33% Evil 35%
France: Good 28% Evil 40%
Germany: Good 25% Evil 39%
Italy: Good 49% Evil 27%
Russia: Good 16% Evil 56%
Again, there are lots of "don't knows" in there.
I find it interesting that there is no real correlation between the countries that come out strongest for Obama and those whose intentions are the most friendly or hostile towards the United States. It would appear that Obama would do best to cultivate the votes of Americans of French and German extraction, and McCain needs to go for the Russian vote!
Of course, knowing what we Europeans would like you Americans to do in November might persuade many of you to do precisely the opposite!
For the full story, click here to visit the Daily Telegraph website.
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Comments
Whew, I’m awful glad I don’t live in any of those countries. What’s that old saying, a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. It is very interesting information.
Blangrehr, Strange to tell, but I've always felt exactly the same way about the United States!
LOL, I think that is as it should be Mr. Indexer, nice speaking with you again.
Interesting poll. It does suggest that a president who is prepared to reach out to the rest of the world would be very popular in Europe. Maybe it is time for America to be less isolated. We in Europe really care about America - and we want to see you led by a leader who reflects the values your great nation was founded upon.
Michigan is under control. Obama has a two to one edge in yard signs on my block!\
Obama will begin to restore the good name of the U.S. as soon as he is elected. He will be more consultative and less unilateral and imperial. He recognizes the importance of international institutions in an increasingly interdependent and dangerous world.
Nice Hub!
Hi Indexer,
I see you posted this 5 months ago. I wonder what the results would be now? As a UK citizen I would be voting for Obama, but I don't think US citizens necessarily operate from the same baseline as we do. Race and Religion seem to play a much bigger role in the decision making process than they perhaps would in Europe. I'm very interested in how this election will go.
Obama is very likely to win.
I hope so Ralph!
Yes, Amanda, it was quite a long tiime ago that I discovered this survey and wrote the hub, at a time when it looked very much as though McCain was favourite to win, back in those pre-Palin days that now seem but a distant happy memory! (which doesn't mean that I ever wanted a McCain victory!)
You might be interested in another of my tongue-in-cheek hubs, namely http://hubpages.com/hub/Some-of-us-Brits-have-a-ri
I saw McCain and Pailn on the news last night. He seems less pleased with his choice these days!
Thanks for the blog. It's funny as hell and I like the underlying truth in it. I would expect those European countries to vote the way you show they would. Sadly enough, I also expect Americans to vote the way you indicate as a result of how the Europeans vote.
No, not "as a result of how the Europeans vote," but because they have figured out that Obama will better represent the country and their particular needs for better health care, preservation of Social Security, getting out of Iraq, fair taxation and on many other issues. For good reason, Americans have decided they've had enough of a GOP administration that lied us into a needless, reckless, costly war, bankrupted the country, wrecked the U.S. and possibly the world economy, allowed mining and timber companies to rape the environment--I could go on but the thought of the Bush administration makes me sick at my stomach!
Ralph, you misunderstand what I'm saying. The indexer claims that Americans would vote "the opposite" way Europeans votes just to spite them. I agree, Obama will and should win, but a lot of right wingers would vote for McCain simply based on the European vote.
solarshingles says:
2 years ago
The Indexer, these are truly very interesting results! They show a quite nice picture of preferences. I could say, I miss some more countries, such as China, Japan, India, Brazil, Canada and Australia to get a rough world opinion overview. We are all very interested, who is going to become a leader of the greatest country, because that directly effects the world's economy and all other walks of life. I believe, American people are going to choose their best candidate.