Dated 29th Nov. - 5th Dec. 09'
This week’s report consists of 35 surveys. Four of these are multi-country surveys while the rest are national surveys.
Since President Obama came to office, he has been making efforts to regain U.S. lost prestige & popularity. His administration’s efforts, his
own personality and simply the change in leadership in U.S. have ameliorated the declining image of the U.S. in various parts of the world. Latin America is one of the regions where one can see a distinct improvement.[1] Turkey however is one exception where a deeper trend of anti-Americanism is in evidence. A distinction between America and Americans is perceived through out the world in terms of opinion where a larger faction lays greater trust in the latter as a people then the former. Similarly there is a difference of perception when discussing American leadership. In recent years there have been only nominal improvements in U.S popularity in Turkey. Only 14% of Turks expressed a positive view of the U.S. in the spring 2009 Pew Global Attitudes survey, the lowest rating among the 25 nations included in the poll. Similarly just 14% say they have a favorable opinion of Americans. While just one-third of Turks have confidence that President Obama will do the right thing in world affairs, this is a significant increase from 2008, when only 2% voiced confidence in then-President Bush. Turkish views of the U.S. have not always been so downbeat. U.S. State Department polling from the beginning of this decade found just over half (52%) of Turks expressing a favorable opinion of the U.S. However, the widely unpopular Iraq war led to a steep decline in America's image, and it has essentially never recovered.[2]
At the eve of Copenhagen, across the world people have showed high concerns about climate change. Almost two third of the global citizens believe it to be a serious problem and eight in ten believe it to be a ‘somewhat a problem’. Moreover a majority also show willingness to pay for program and policies dealing with the climate change. Does Copenhagen summit going to achieve any goal? Does nations like U.S, China and Russia are going to cut off their emission of green gases? This will definitely have impact on the production as well as growth and development of the country. Americans especially have always shown the least concern about climatic issues, however recently more Americans express concern about climate change. It is important to see how the leaders translate public concern into their policies. All the developed states being influential will have to play important role in such development. But will they be ready to sacrifice their growth or pay for dealing with such issues, remains to be answered in recent future.
Since President Obama came to office, he has been making efforts to regain U.S. lost prestige & popularity. His administration’s efforts, his
own personality and simply the change in leadership in U.S. have ameliorated the declining image of the U.S. in various parts of the world. Latin America is one of the regions where one can see a distinct improvement.[1] Turkey however is one exception where a deeper trend of anti-Americanism is in evidence. A distinction between America and Americans is perceived through out the world in terms of opinion where a larger faction lays greater trust in the latter as a people then the former. Similarly there is a difference of perception when discussing American leadership. In recent years there have been only nominal improvements in U.S popularity in Turkey. Only 14% of Turks expressed a positive view of the U.S. in the spring 2009 Pew Global Attitudes survey, the lowest rating among the 25 nations included in the poll. Similarly just 14% say they have a favorable opinion of Americans. While just one-third of Turks have confidence that President Obama will do the right thing in world affairs, this is a significant increase from 2008, when only 2% voiced confidence in then-President Bush. Turkish views of the U.S. have not always been so downbeat. U.S. State Department polling from the beginning of this decade found just over half (52%) of Turks expressing a favorable opinion of the U.S. However, the widely unpopular Iraq war led to a steep decline in America's image, and it has essentially never recovered.[2]At the eve of Copenhagen, across the world people have showed high concerns about climate change. Almost two third of the global citizens believe it to be a serious problem and eight in ten believe it to be a ‘somewhat a problem’. Moreover a majority also show willingness to pay for program and policies dealing with the climate change. Does Copenhagen summit going to achieve any goal? Does nations like U.S, China and Russia are going to cut off their emission of green gases? This will definitely have impact on the production as well as growth and development of the country. Americans especially have always shown the least concern about climatic issues, however recently more Americans express concern about climate change. It is important to see how the leaders translate public concern into their policies. All the developed states being influential will have to play important role in such development. But will they be ready to sacrifice their growth or pay for dealing with such issues, remains to be answered in recent future.
[1] http://www.gallup.com/poll/124514/leadership-obama-winning-favor-latin-america.aspx
[2] http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1429/negative-views-of-america-unchanged-in-turkey
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The complete detailed weekly reports of the project can be found on theGilani Research Foundation website.
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