When Senator Barack Obama visited Berlin last July, he proclaimed himself a “citizen of the world” to a wildly cheering crowd. Now as the election draws near, the world’s citizens proclaim him as their preferred choice for president.
That terrific magazine, The Economist – too expensive to buy but can be perused while waiting to have one’s wisdom tooth extracted at the dentist – has an interesting interactive map of the world showing which candidate would win if people in various countries voted in the American election. While many are still voting, the total cast so far shows 86 percent for the Obama/Biden ticket and 14 percent for McCain/Palin.
Here are samples of a few countries:
• Russia: 86 percent for Obama and 14 percent for McCain.
• Germany: 88 percent for Obama and 12 percent for McCain.
• Vietnam: 91 percent for Obama and 9 percent McCain. (These could be seen as surprising numbers in a country where pundits said people have certain affections for the old flyboy who was kept in their prison for five years during the war, but also where three out of four Vietnamese were born after he left Vietnam.)
This finding is consistent with several other polls. TheBBC conducted a poll on September 10 and found that global citizens preferred Obama 4-to-1, out of 22,000 people surveyed in 22 foreign countries. A Reader’s Digest magazine poll, released Oct 6, asked 17,000 people in 17 countries – including the U.S. – whom they would like to see elected president. It concluded: “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.”
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