New Delhi
30 June 2009
Global survey: South Koreans root for Manmohan, Ahmadinejad more popular than
Obama in Palestine; Pakistan President Zardari least trusted in Pakistan and abroad
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the most popular "regional"
leaders in South Korea with 47 per cent saying they trusted him more than others,
according to a new poll of people in 20 countries by worldpublicopinion.org.
Thirty per cent of Chinese leaned positively towards Prime Minister Singh although the
Chinese views of him had become more negative as compared to the previous poll. He
also enjoyed an overwhelming support (83 per cent) among Indians.
In contrast, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari fared poorly on the confidence index. Only
34 per cent of the Pakistanis had confidence in him. Mr Zardari was not popular in the
Arab world either.
The Indians, who were among the 19,224 respondents in 20 countries, voted
overwhelmingly (80 per cent) in favour of United States President Barack Obama.
However, Obama was viewed the most negatively in Pakistan.
An average of 61 per cent of the people, across the 19 nations polled (excluding the US),
expressed confidence in Obama to do the right thing in world affairs. No other "world"
leader had the confidence of more than an average of 40 per cent of the people.
The poll suggested that Obama inspired far more confidence than any other "world"
political leader, but most Palestinians trusted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
more than Obama.
Fifty-seven per cent of the Palestinians who participated in the poll said they had a lot or
some confidence in President Ahmadinejad of the Shia-dominated Iran. In contrast, only
33 per cent voted for Obama.
Also, Hassan Nasrallah, the influential Shiite cleric and leader of Hezbollah, earned the
confidence of 82 per cent of the Palestinians to emerge the most popular regional leader,
behind King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in that
order.
The Palestinians were not alone -- 42 per cent of Indians shared their view about Mr
Ahmadinejad. According to the poll, initiated and managed by the US-based University of
Maryland, India was one of the few countries outside the Muslim world to express
positive views of the Iranian president.
The poll was conducted between April 4 and June 12, prior to Mr Obama's speech in
Cairo. Incidentally, Obama's predecessor George Bush was one of the least trusted
leaders in the world in last year's poll.
No comments:
Post a Comment