International Poll: U.S. Not Very Popular

Apparently , most of the world now has a more favorable view of China than they do of the United States. A new international poll shows pretty much what you’d expect. We’re not very popular.

I don’t know how important it is that we be well liked by citizens of other countries. Even without the Iraq war, I would imagine our ratings would be less than stellar. As the only Superpower in the world, we’re going to get in people’s way. No one instinctively supports the top dog.

But I wonder what the results would have been if the poll had asked respondents what countries they’d rather live in? I imagine the United States would significantly edge out China on that one. Still, it’s a shame how quickly the goodwill of 9/11 evaporated. We can only hope that the goodwill hasn’t permanently disappeared but is merely dormant. Hopefully as we move our efforts away from the militaristic and towards the more diplomatic promotion of democracy, the world will remember that, all said, the U.S. is a very good nation.

After all, the poll’s bright spot was that most respondents, even in the Muslim world, supported our goal of increasing democracy. As long as democracy is still popular, there's a lot of reason to hope.