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Citizen of the World
It's a good thing for John McCain that only American citizens can vote in U.S. presidential elections. If the election were held overseas, or even in the rest of North America, the Republican nominee wouldn't stand a chance.
This was just one of the remarkable findings in a new Reader's Digest Global Poll in which we asked people in 17 countries, including the United States, to name the issues they care about most and tell how they feel about the United States and the presidential contenders. (For an explanation of the poll methodology, see below.)
"It's Obama by a landslide—except in the country in which he's actually running for president," says John Fredricks, director of polling and research for Reader's Digest. "What is most striking is the margin of his support."
In the Netherlands, Obamamania surpasses 90 percent. In Germany, it's at 85 percent-numbers not usually seen in political polling. Indeed, Obama plays well in every country we surveyed (see If the World Could Vote chart).
The lopsided result abroad is a measure partly of the widespread disaffection with George W. Bush. A negative consensus about the American president first gained momentum abroad with Bush's dismissal of global
warming. The disapproval rate intensified with the invasion of Iraq. As a staunch supporter of that war, McCain symbolizes the Bush status quo—and an era the world wants to leave behind.
"Obama represents something different," says Klas Bergman, director of communications for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "He seems ready to listen rather than dictate. That he's African American only adds to the mystique."
Other factors are at play as well. For starters, the media elite, especially in Europe, tends to be liberal, and its news coverage of the U.S. election reflects this slant. The upshot is that the ordinary Dutchman or Englishwoman—or Indonesian, for that matter—receives a steady diet of positive Obama coverage. Also, in fairness to the GOP nominee, the Republican party is organized around a set of conservative attitudes and principles that are distinctly American in nature. These range from support for gun rights and low taxes to antipathy to legal abortion and centralized governmental control. In addition, youth and charisma are as compelling on the world stage as they are at home. Domestically, Obama runs strongest among young voters, who helped him emerge as the winner in the Democratic primaries. The same skew is evident abroad, where McCain's strongest support is among voters 55 and over.
The poll suggests that America is still a nation that inspires—even at a time when many abroad disapprove of some of our most visible policies. To much of the world, an African American presidential candidate serves as a reminder of America's promise and of the soaring ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, this particular African American-born in Hawaii, with a father from Kenya, raised partly in Indonesia—is truly a citizen of the world.
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