Obama Image Abroad Favorable For United States: Poll

The latest Pew Global Attitudes Project survey shows that the international opinion of America has improved as a result of Barack Obama, with the exception of just a few respondents and issues, the New York Times reports. These two areas of discontent are, respectively, among Israelis and Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama, according to the survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, enjoys greater confidence among Germans than does Chancellor Angela Merkel, and among the French than President Nicolas Sarkozy. His election in itself, pollsters found, helped restore the United States' image abroad to levels unseen since the Clinton years.

Improved attitudes toward the United States were most marked in Western Europe, but also evident in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as some predominantly Muslim countries.

Other nations that remain skeptical of the United States, according to the survey, are Pakistan, Turkey and the Palestinian territories. According to the Pew executive summary:

Signs of improvement in views of America are seen even in some predominantly Muslim countries that held overwhelmingly negative views of the United States in the Bush years. The most notable increase occurred in Indonesia, where people are well aware of Obama's family ties to the country and where favorable ratings of the U.S. nearly doubled this year. However for the most part, opinions of the U.S. among Muslims in the Middle East remain largely unfavorable, despite some positive movement in the numbers in Jordan and Egypt. Animosity toward the U.S., however, continues to run deep and unabated in Turkey, the Palestinian territories and Pakistan.

For the full report, including graphs, go here.

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