Survey: World opinion favors Kerry
By Bill Schneider
CNN Senior Political Analyst
| In the survey, Kerry won all but one European country polled. |
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CNN's Bill Schneider looks at how the U.S. presidential candidates might fare in a global election.
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SURVEY RESULTS | France: Bush 5%, Kerry 64% UK: Bush 16%, Kerry 47% Poland: Bush 31%, Kerry 26% Canada: Bush 16%, Kerry 61% Mexico: Bush 18%, Kerry 38%
Source: University of Maryland, July-August 2004.
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- It's being called a world election in which the world has no vote. Do we know how the rest of the world would vote? Some Americans claim they do.
Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry says he has heard "from people who are leaders elsewhere in the world who don't appreciate the Bush administration approach and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States.''
Maybe they are responding to opinion in their own countries.
CNN's Richard Quest, who recently returned from a tour of the U.S., said: "There are vast numbers of people, especially in Europe, that are looking at the United States' population and cannot understand how they want to re-elect George W. Bush. It is a simple fact.''
Over the summer, University of Maryland researchers asked citizens of 35 countries how they would vote between Bush and Kerry. The result? 30 of the 35 voted for Kerry.
Kerry won all but one European country polled.
A Bush campaign official once said Kerry "looks French." Apparently, the French were impressed. They gave Kerry a 59-point lead. Only 5 percent of the French voted for Bush.
What about the Bush administration's closest ally, Britain? Not even close. The British favored Kerry by over 30 points.
The exception was Poland, which Bush carried by a narrow margin.
How about America's neighbors? Canadians went for Kerry by 45 points. Mexicans by 20.
In Asia, Kerry carried China, Japan and Indonesia. Only the Philippines, a former American colony fighting its own Muslim insurrection, went for Bush. In India and Thailand, the race was close. Swing countries?
The overwhelming hostility to President Bush in the world does have consequences for those "foreign leaders'' Kerry was talking about.
"Look at the damage to those politicians who have been associated with Bush," Quest said.
"Aznar in Spain, to Berlusconi in Italy, to John Howard, now running neck-and-neck in his own re-election in Australia with an economy that's booming. He should be walking in.
"And now look at Tony Blair. Every leader that has stood side-by-side with George Bush is feeling the electorate's wrath.''
Blair's Labour government faces re-election, possibly as early as next spring.
His people are reported to have informed the White House that Blair needs to keep his distance from Bush so as not to endanger his own survival.