Communist China More Popular than US, Poll Shows

[Defarge]

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/23/poll.america.ap/index.html

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The single greatest threat to continued American hegemony and freedom is now more popular than we are, even with our allies.

For a second I considered subscribing to the "our allies are so stupid it doesen't matter what they think" line of thought.

[The Duke]

Guantanamo v. Tiananmen

Europe prefers Tiananmen.

[Erc]

Guantanamo v. Tiananmen

Europe prefers Tiananmen.

Because China isn't on the news all the time and Tiananmen was 16 years ago.  No big surprise.

U.S. v. Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe will win.

[Alcon]

I think this probably has less to do with hating the U.S. and liking communism than it does knowing that the general climate is against the U.S. and the general climate is sort of China-neutral.  How often do you hear people talking about Chinese politics after all?  I'd be surprised if a U.S. poll with the same questions ranked China all that much lower.

[Platypus]

ouch

[Huckleberry Finn]

I am sorry. I really am.

[John Dibble]

I am sorry. I really am.

Not your fault - most Europeans aren't exposed to Americans much, while you are exposed to us through these forums. So, when it comes to what we believe, you understand us better, while most who voted in that poll likely have only understanding of what they have heard from the media in their countries.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

65% "approving" of China seems too high; I guess it would depend where in the U.K they polled. 55% would probably be about right for "approving" of the U.S, maybe a bit low. Again it depends where they polled. And what the questions were.
Either way I'd like to apologise for the infinate stupidity of middle class (which translates more as upper-middle class in U.S terms) people over here

I should add that China has been getting a lot of sickeningly positive media coverage recently. Not sure why.

[minionofmidas]

It all depends on how you ask the questions...I'm very sure that a direct "Whaddaya prefer - US or China" question would have had a very different result.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Not your fault - most Europeans aren't exposed to Americans much, while you are exposed to us through these forums.

And why should this actually improve someone´s opinion about the U.S.? Muhahahaha!



Rant about U.S. foreign policy (well, sort of): I assume the result of this poll would have been the exact opposite just five years ago. The United States´ image has either suffered from a very bad foreign policy or from a very bad way of selling this foreign policy to the world (bad P.R.). You may pick the explanation which pleases you better.

Rant about the poll participants: Independent from one might think about U.S. foreign policy, it´s a bit narrow-minded to judge a country by his foreign policy alone. A question like "Where would you rather want to live, the United States or China?" would have produced answers much more favorable for the U.S.

[Hitchabrut]

Not surprising. I'm proud of those Indians and Poles.

[Beet]

I dont' see what's the big competition here. Most people view both countries positively. That in itself is the biggest surprise, and it should be heartening that the international climate is still civil.

[WMS]

Thanks to Huck and Al. Lots of class, guys. I know I for one really appreciate it!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep. Rooting for China - and trying to lift the EU arms embargo on them, natch - does kind of gut any moral force behind their criticisms of the U.S. and exposes their attitudes as purely a geopolitical desire to see the U.S. falter regardless of the price. I've been expecting this for some time, really...

[AuH2O]

Hey, China's PR for their Olympic bid must be paying off.

Also, did they poll Japan? I'll take a wild stab at who'd win that one... which, by excluding, indicates possible bias by the pollsters (isn't Japan pretty relevant? it's in the region and powerful to boot).

[opebo]

Communist China?  What do they mean, pre-1978?

[Gabu]

Out of curiosity, I wonder what the results would be if you asked Americans what their opinions are of all of those countries, then asked what their opinions are of China, and then compared the two.

[David S]

I agree with those who say the answers would be different if the question was "Where would you rather live?"

Best reaction for the US- cut out all foreign aid and all US backed loans to foreign countries. We should do that anyway.

[Huckleberry Finn]

I am sorry. I really am.

Not your fault - most Europeans aren't exposed to Americans much, while you are exposed to us through these forums. So, when it comes to what we believe, you understand us better, while most who voted in that poll likely have only understanding of what they have heard from the media in their countries.

Very true. And I can discuss here with very nice and smart Americans.

It's absurd that many Europeans like to watch American tv-series and movies, but still dislike your country. For example Finnish channels are full of American entertainment.

[Beet]

I agree with those who say the answers would be different if the question was "Where would you rather live?"

Best reaction for the US- cut out all foreign aid and all US backed loans to foreign countries. We should do that anyway.

That wouldn't pass by the Israeli lobby, which would suffer most.

[minionofmidas]

They actually polled opinions about a couple more countries than these two.

[??????????]

U.S. v. Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe will win.

You mean Rhodesia, right?

[The Duke]

65% "approving" of China seems too high; I guess it would depend where in the U.K they polled. 55% would probably be about right for "approving" of the U.S, maybe a bit low. Again it depends where they polled. And what the questions were.
Either way I'd like to apologise for the infinate stupidity of middle class (which translates more as upper-middle class in U.S terms) people over here

I should add that China has been getting a lot of sickeningly positive media coverage recently. Not sure why.

The media coverage may have something to do with media companies doing more and more business in China.  Remember how CNN ran with the Ba'ath Party line in covering Saddam's Iraq?  Some of their reporters would trade positive coverage for access.

Itsn not at all out of the question that the media would do similar things, trading favorable coverage for economic gain in China.

[David S]

I agree with those who say the answers would be different if the question was "Where would you rather live?"

Best reaction for the US- cut out all foreign aid and all US backed loans to foreign countries. We should do that anyway.

That wouldn't pass by the Israeli lobby, which would suffer most.

Let members of congress answer the question; who runs this country the American people or Israel? I double dog dare them to say Israel.

[Gustaf]

Most people don't think it through...and you don't hear much about China. Whenever a Swedish politician praises China they get a storm of criticism.

It will all improve once Bush is gone. And I maintain that this was a good enough reason to want him out of office.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Most people don't think it through...and you don't hear much about China. Whenever a Swedish politician praises China they get a storm of criticism.

This reminds me of the fact that Gerhard Schröder´s support for the lift of the weapons embargo against China was not that popular here. You could even say that it had massively backfired. The Greens opposed it, the CDU/CSU opposed, even his own party opposed it (even though they didn´t admit it in public). And opinion polls showed that a majority of the voters opposed it too.