BBC survey suggests Pinoys prefer Obama over McCain

MANILA, Philippines - Barack Obama will win the presidency if he is running in the Philippines, or in 21 other countries, results of a poll recently conducted by BBC World Service suggest. The September 9 poll, done by BBC with Makati City-based firm M&S-Sigma Dos Philippines, Inc, showed that 46 percent of the Filipino adult respondents in the National Capital Region “would favor Barack Obama as president of the US." Only 22 percent of the respondents would pick John McCain. Almost four of 10 Filipinos or 39 percent of the respondents “believe America’s relations with the rest of the world would improve if Obama were to be elected." Seventeen percent believe US relations with the world won’t change under an Obama presidency, while six percent of Filipinos “say they would worsen." Under a McCain presidency, 32 percent of the respondents say the world’s relationship with the US would remain the same, “with 20 percent saying they would improve and only four percent saying they would worsen." Over half of Filipinos or 51 percent “say that if Obama, an African-American, were elected president, it would fundamentally change their perception of the US," while 11 percent “disagree, saying that such a result would not change their perception." "Large numbers of people around the world clearly like what Barack Obama represents. Given how negative America's international image is at present, it is quite striking that only one in five think a McCain presidency would improve on the Bush Administration's relations with the world," said Doug Miller, chairman of international polling firm GlobeScan. While most countries prefer Obama, the survey showed that three predominantly Muslim countries — Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon think otherwise. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents in Turkey think that "relations under an Obama presidency would get worse; while 34 percent in Egypt and 42 percent in Lebanon believe that relations "would stay the same." BBC said that a separate survey it did earlier this year “showed that an average of 49 percent of people in countries surveyed have a negative view of US influence in the world compared to 32 percent who view it positively." Meanwhile, the September 9 survey showed that all of the 21 other countries polled by BBC would prefer Obama over McCain. BBC said the countries “most optimistic" of an Obama presidency are US NATO allies — Canada – 69 percent; France — 62 percent; Germany — 61 percent; United Kingdom — 54 percent; and Italy — 64 percent; as well as Australia — 62 percent; Kenya 87 percent; and Nigeria — 71 percent. The survey involved 22,532 adult citizens across 22 nations. GlobeScan and University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes with research partners per country did the survey for BBC. - Annie Ruth C. Sabangan, GMANews.TV