Our Loss

The numbers below are from a recent BBC World Service poll that involved 28,389 interviews in 27 countries. Its aim was to determine the opinion of U.S. influence throughout the world. The poll results were also featured in the most recent Time magazine.

A majority in each country either think the U.S. is mainly a negative influence in the world or mainly a positive influence in the world.

Out of the 27 countries polled, three think U.S. influence on the world is mainly positive. They are as follows, with the percentage of people that think positively about U.S. global influence:

Nigeria 72%
Kenya 70%
Philippines 72%

Some of the highest negative percentages were from Indonesia 71%, Turkey 69%, Greece 78%, Germany 74% and France 69%.

The countries that are viewed most positively:

Canada 54%
Japan 54%
France 50%
Britain 45%
China 42%

And guess where the U.S. is on the spectrum. Nope, not right below China, but with such classy, high-standing countries as Russia, North Korea, Iran and Israel. The U.S. is the third most negatively viewed country in the world.

Also, even within our own borders, U.S. influence is viewed as negative by 51% of Americans polled. Maybe if they called me it would be 52%.