America’s Approval Rating

Let me recommend the website www.watchingamerica.com once again.  It’s a great website that translates into English articles about the United States from all over the world.

 I found a recent article from a Swiss paper of interest.  It’s called Can America ‘Find Love’ Again?  It’s basically advice from a Swiss columnist on how America could improve its popularity around the world.  A recent Pew Poll that talked to 45,000 people in 46 countries found that this is how people feel about us:

image borrowed from www.watchingamerica.com

Yikes. What do you think of that?  I’m sort of surprised that people on Venezuela are so split.  We seem to be pretty popular in Africa; must be all those aid dollars?

How important is it that other countries have a favorable impression of the United States?  Does it matter?  Should we try and improve it?  How could we improve it?

Poll: Is it important for America to have a positive approval rating?

We don’t have a show planned on this topic, but I’d just be interested to hear what you have to say.

-Jessica