Our view of the world from America often changes from year to year, mainly along the lines of our foreign policy and who we deem good guys and bad guys.
In a new poll by Gallup, one of our perennial bad guys just got a lot worse in our eyes. Russia is now viewed favorably by only 24 percent of Americans, the lowest rating since Gallup started tracking favorability in 1989. Russia dropped 10 percentage points in just the last year, the steepest dive of any of the twenty-two countries Gallup studied.
I would guess that unwarranted invasions, corruption, assassinations and a return to the good old days of Joe Stalin might have something to do with Russia’s esteem in American eyes.
On a more positive note, we still love our Canadian buddies to the north. Canada receives a 92 percent favorable rating from Americans surveyed by Gallup. Great Britain wasn’t far behind, with 90 percent of Americans giving it a big thumbs up. France appears to be out of the favorability doghouse after the, ahem, “Freedom Fries” incident during the Iraq war. We have kissed and made up and now 82 percent of Americans once again are in amour with France.
The rest of the very favorable countries are: Germany (81 percent), Japan (80 percent), India (71 percent) and Israel (70 percent).
India’s fortunes appear to be on the rise because of its growing economy and leadership in South Asia. President Obama visited the country recently to forge a relationship with India’s new prime minister.
Americans also hold favorable views of Jordan (57 percent), Mexico (55 percent), Ukraine (52 percent) and Egypt (49 percent). Close, but they didn’t make it into the “we really, really like you” category.
The change in U.S. policy towards Cuba elevated that island nation to what Gallup calls a “mixed opinion.” Attitudes toward Cuba are almost evenly split. China and Saudi Arabia also fall into the “mixed opinion’ category.
Although less than a quarter of Americans view Russia favorably, there are other countries that do even worse. The Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea all score below 20 percent favorability. North Korea is the bottom dweller with a 9 percent favorability rating. Not bad considering nearly one-out-of-10 Americans view the authoritarian country favorably.
It must be the haircut.
