Presidential Polls 2012: A Global Poll Shows 50 Percent Approval For Obama, 9 Percent For Romney

Impact

The world wants Barack Obama, not Mitt Romney

It is less than a week to the election, and a recent BBC poll has revealed that Mitt Romney is not even remotely a challenger to Barack Obama, if world opinion is the criteria. The incumbent president collects 50% of the vote, whereas Romney grabs a mere 9% of the total.

According to the poll, Canadians are pro-Obama in their overwhelming majority. On the extremes, 72% of the French would like to see a second term for the president and on the other end, almost unsurprisingly, Pakistanis prefer to see Romney preside in the oval office.

Every other country between France and Pakistan, however, would vote for Obama.

The overall trend is clear, then. American foreign policy will find better reception under Obama than it would under Romney. The higher opinion for Obama also means that the perception of America in the world, for all its problems, will also be better off than under Romney.

As the eastern seaboard recovers from Hurricane Sandy and Canada dries off from a rainy week, we’ll be refocusing on the campaigns, domestically and internationally. While polls of U.S. public opinion point both ways, putting Obama or Romney forward by a micron, it is still a two-horse race with an inconclusive prediction about who will win. But, the world is with Obama, of that we can be sure.