Gallup World Polling: Obama beats McCain by 51 in Japan

[BlueSwan]

Quick Question: Why is Obama doing so well in other nations? AMerica must be the most Conservative I guess.

Several reasons:

1) The US IS amongst the more conservative countries in the world - certainly in comparison with Europe. Denmark would certainly be a rock-solid democratic state each and every time if we were allowed to vote.

2) The Bush policies are EXTREMELY unpopular amongst just about everybody around the world, except for terrorists who has a much easier time recruiting now due to the low popularity of the US under Bush. Most countries really doesn't like the unilateral way of conducting foreign policy. Neither do other countries appreciate the "either you're with us or against us rhetoric".

3) Obama appears to be a uniter who actually believes in diplomacy and international cooperation.

4) Obama might actually make the US live up to its responsibilities on climate change, instead of sabotaging any initiative the way Bush has done.

[Stranger in a strange land]

How do they conduct polls in countries like Kenya and India, where many people don't have phones?

Yeah. Even really poor people have phones nowadays.

In fact, many African cell phone carriers have more functional capacities (bill paying, wire transfers) than US cells phones.

It's like an anecdote I heard from a professor when I was in law school.  He visited Estonia, and his host asked to see what a check looked like.  He had never seen one before, because they do "everything" electronically.  (Probably hyperbole, but the point is salient.)

The US is really quite far behind in infrastructure.

not necessarily: I travelled in India last summer, and most people I met didn't have cell phones. China, obviously is a different story: it has a cell phone network that puts America's to utter shame.

[TheGlobalizer]

How do they conduct polls in countries like Kenya and India, where many people don't have phones?

Yeah. Even really poor people have phones nowadays.

In fact, many African cell phone carriers have more functional capacities (bill paying, wire transfers) than US cells phones.

It's like an anecdote I heard from a professor when I was in law school.  He visited Estonia, and his host asked to see what a check looked like.  He had never seen one before, because they do "everything" electronically.  (Probably hyperbole, but the point is salient.)

The US is really quite far behind in infrastructure.

not necessarily: I travelled in India last summer, and most people I met didn't have cell phones. China, obviously is a different story: it has a cell phone network that puts America's to utter shame.

India has some pretty special circumstances due to their legacy with the license raj.  But I also don't mean to imply that cell phones (or phones in general) are universal everywhere in the world, either.

[Hash]

Quick Question: Why is Obama doing so well in other nations? AMerica must be the most Conservative I guess.

The Republican Party would be a far-right loony party in France.

[LanceMcSteel]

Obama is clearly Big in Japan.