Have people outside the US always overwhelmingly favored Democrats in US elections?

[maclennanc2]

I know that in all elections since 2004, people in the vast majority of countries have said they hope the Democrat wins by overwhelming margins. Kerry, Obama, Clinton and Biden were all favored overwhelmingly in almost every country, with some of the few exceptions being Israel and (in the case of Clinton and Biden) Russia.

Was this always the case? Did people abroad favor Mondale or Dukakis, for example? Or is it only a product of the deep international unpopularity of Dubya and Trump?

[CumbrianLefty]

I think there has long been a *tendency* to prefer Democrats, but nowhere near as much as now.

Reagan was (unlike Dubya and Donald) genuinely popular with European right wingers, for example.

[Lord Halifax]

I think there has long been a *tendency* to prefer Democrats, but nowhere near as much as now.

Reagan was (unlike Dubya and Donald) genuinely popular with European right wingers, for example.

Cristiano Ronaldo is named after Reagan, who his dad admired.

[Vosem]

Only in America did anything like the Gingrich Revolution actually manage to seize power, and I think besides the US only Canada even really attempted that transition (but it was much less complete, and the Reform party/CA never did manage to take power on its own). I think after 1994 the Republican party became much less similar to other First World right-wing parties (whereas people felt quite comfortable grouping Reagan/Thatcher as the same kind of thing, there was generally no equivalent to Gingrich or Bush or Trump among other First World countries), and in the modern day foreign sympathy for the GOP probably tracks gun rights as an issue, and so is most found among certain kinds of Latin American right-wing parties and certain Eastern European populist parties -- along with perhaps Israeli and Canadian right-wingers -- but it is unheard of in Western Europe, or for that matter in the non-North American Anglosphere.

Supporters of the Republican Party today have a sociological profile quite unlike that of other First World populations (eg, studies suggest that among supporters of the Republican Party greater wealth is strongly correlated with greater fertility, which is very strange; county-by-county fertility studies also suggest that self-identified conservative Americans are probably both above replacement rate overall and have their first child at quite young ages relative to other First Worlders); the only vaguely similar group might be secular Israelis. I sort of wonder if whatever background factor causes this doesn't also contribute to US-Israeli relations being so close.

[Hnv1]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

[Mike88]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

I think it was more 1988 the last time the Western world definitely preferred a Republican. Bush Sr. was quite respected and well seen in Europe, for example.

[maclennanc2]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

The Christian right, yes, but Trumpian right wing populism is a different story. One has to wonder how the French or the Swedes could hate Trump so much, yet so many vote for Trump-like parties in their own country.

[maclennanc2]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

I think it was more 1988 the last time the Western world definitely preferred a Republican. Bush Sr. was quite respected and well seen in Europe, for example.

Would Europeans have mainly favored Bush or Clinton in 1992? I know Bush was seen as a strong foreign policy President, which hurt him at home because he was seen as overly focused on foreign policy while the economy was failing, but did it help him in Europe?

[MayorCarcetti]

Definitely since Iraq, I would say the wider western world would have heavily favoured the Democrats. I think before that it would be lean Democrat but wasn't too scared of Republicans.

[Isaak]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

The Christian right, yes, but Trumpian right wing populism is a different story. One has to wonder how the French or the Swedes could hate Trump so much, yet so many vote for Trump-like parties in their own country.

Neither the SD nor the RN are really Trump-like. Trump, with his anti-intellectualism, self-centrism, and strange cultural mannerisms is a genuinely American phenomenon.

There is nobody in Europe that resembles him.

[Zinneke]

 I'd like to welcome the double digit posters in this thread that I haven't met yet. It's always nice to see relatively new posters on Atlas.

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

The Christian right, yes, but Trumpian right wing populism is a different story. One has to wonder how the French or the Swedes could hate Trump so much, yet so many vote for Trump-like parties in their own country.

Neither the SD nor the RN are really Trump-like. Trump, with his anti-intellectualism, self-centrism, and strange cultural mannerisms is a genuinely American phenomenon.

There is nobody in Europe that resembles him.

Yes I agree, Trump is sui generis, the GOP is sui generis. It's a power collective united by extremely cynical personal interests.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Not really. We don't have Democrats or Republicans, so we dont follow either party.

And certainly not with the religious fervour that Americans do.

[Torrain]

Depends how far back you go. Can’t imagine there were many Europeans rooting for Adlai Stevenson against Dwight Eisenhower, for example.

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

Rough estimates (well, some of them are based on actual polling figures) for the UK from the time when US elections probably started to be widely cared about.

1940 - Strongly FDR
1944 - Strongly FDR
1948 - Quite strongly Truman
1952 - Strongly Eisenhower
1956 - Strongly Eisenhower 
1960 - Quite strongly JFK
1964 - Strongly LBJ
1968 - Lean Humphrey (I wonder if there was much rooting for Wallace, given the year this was)
1972 - Lean Nixon
1976 - Lean Ford 
1980 - Lean Carter
1984 - Lean Reagan
1988 - Tossup
1992 - Lean Clinton
1996 - Strongly Clinton
2000 - Strongly Gore
2004 - Strongly Kerry
2008 - Strongly Obama
2012 - Strongly Obama
2016 - Strongly Clinton
2020 - Strongly Biden

[Hnv1]

The bonkers Christian right is really something Sui generis American. The solid Christian centre-right in Europe can’t see a like to like there.

I think Reagan v. Carter was the last time the western world generally favoured a Republican. I guess there’s something about the American south as well

I think it was more 1988 the last time the Western world definitely preferred a Republican. Bush Sr. was quite respected and well seen in Europe, for example.

Would Europeans have mainly favored Bush or Clinton in 1992? I know Bush was seen as a strong foreign policy President, which hurt him at home because he was seen as overly focused on foreign policy while the economy was failing, but did it help him in Europe?

I recall 1992 as being the least interesting cycle viewed from abroad. It was basically I wonder how much will Perot win. Clinton was a nobody and Bush after the Gulf War and the breakdown of the USSR was seen as a bit archaic.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I recall reading something about West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) getting along with Gerald Ford, but not so much with Jimmy Carter.

Also, in 1992 George H.W. Bush was still largely seen as the guy who had faciliated German reunification, while Clinton was considered a total nobody and lacking in experience.

1996 was possibly the earliest election in which that started to change and the Democrat was definitely favored here, although at that point that was still in parts a side-effect of an "incumbency bonus". A certain "coolness" was also attributed to Clinton, while Dole was perceived as a boring old dude.

In 2000, Gore was definitely favored over Bush due to the latter's embrace of the Religiious Right and lack of political experience, especially on foreign policy. Bush's isolationism on things like the Kyoro Protocol was also met with skepticism. Gore on the other hand profited from Clinton's coattails. From thereon the Democrats' favored status never changed.

Summarizing this in this manner I think it is possible that with end of the Cold War the GOP started to gradually abandon internationalism and multilateralism because these things weren't seen as necessary anymore to defeat the Soviets, while the Democrats retained their allegiance to these ideas making them more popular for foreigners in the process too. You might consider the Republicans' embrace of isolationism (or unilateralism) a bit shortsighted in light of the rise of Putin and Xi.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Depends how far back you go. Can’t imagine there were many Europeans rooting for Adlai Stevenson against Dwight Eisenhower, for example.

Aneurin Bevan did!

[CumbrianLefty]

Well in the UK there was quite a bit of enthusiasm for Clinton in 1992 - not least from liberal-left types who had been so massively disappointed in our own election earlier that year.

His winning offered them (us!) genuine hope that something better was indeed possible.

[oldtimer]

Wasn't a conservative Polish Foreign Minister who explained "we like foreign governments to be socialist because they care more about foreigners than their own people" ?

[OSR stands with Israel]

In India , the media used to be extremely favorable for the democrats but now it’s seemed to have reversed .

[ingemann]

I know that in all elections since 2004, people in the vast majority of countries have said they hope the Democrat wins by overwhelming margins. Kerry, Obama, Clinton and Biden were all favored overwhelmingly in almost every country, with some of the few exceptions being Israel and (in the case of Clinton and Biden) Russia.

Was this always the case? Did people abroad favor Mondale or Dukakis, for example? Or is it only a product of the deep international unpopularity of Dubya and Trump?

The first American election I remember in 1992, Danish media talked about Bush being the preferable candidate from a European perspective. It really depend on the platform, status quo or internationalist presidents are supported no matter party. From what I understand the support also tended to split by partisan divide with Reagan being popular among the European right. There do seem to be a shift after 2000, but it’s also a question about Republicans growing increasingly hostile toward international  organizations and institutions, more than a question about internal American politics.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

In 1932 the consensus in Britain was very pro-Roosevelt as it was thought a Hoover victory would lead to further increases in tariffs and entrenchment of isolationism.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

A better question would be if 2020 is the most lopsided of them all.

Honestly I think 1948, 1956, or 1960 probably takes the cake.