Although some might argue that the competition is strong, Israel, Iran and the United States took the coveted top three spots of least liked nations in a worldwide survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released today.
The survey conducted by the British Broadcasting Corp.'s World Service asked more than 28,000 people to rate 12 countries — Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the United States and Venezuela — as having a positive or negative influence on the world.
Israel was viewed negatively by 56 percent of respondents and positively by 17 percent; for Iran, the figures were 54 percent and 18 percent. The United States had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 percent citing it as a bad influence and 30 percent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 percent and positively by 19 percent. The U.S. has apparently joined the so called Axis of Evil in terms of international perceptions. Thanks goes out to everyone at Bu$h Inc. and the Republican Party, along with a significant number of spineless or clueless Democrats, for making this honor possible.
Our neighbors to north, the Canadians are the occupants of the most repected nation of the dozen voted on.
"It appears that people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the pursuit of military power," said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the research along with pollster GlobeScan.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/military-power-equals-negative-influence/2007/03/05/1172943352580.html
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/Poll_Israel_Iran_seen_as_negative/20070306-115349-2289r/