A nearly equal percentage of people around the world think positively of China and the United States. Negative opinion is also nearly the same.
That’s what the latest opinion tracking poll of the BBC shows. The results, available here, show that those polled holding a positive opinion of China and the United States is nearly the same – 39 and 40 percent, respectively. (This is among citizens of 20 large nations around the world.)
But the trend lines are different.
Positive opinions of China fell in the past year despite hosting the Summer Olympics. In 2008, 45 percent held a positive view of China, the poll says.
And the election of President Barack Obama gave only a small bump to the perception of the United States. The percentage of positive impressions climbed from 35 percent in 2008 to 40 percent now.
Negative opinions of China were at 40 percent, while for the U.S. they were 43 percent.
A press release on the poll quoted Globescan Chairman Doug Miller saying: "Our poll results suggest that China has much to learn about winning hearts and minds in the world. It seems that a successful Olympic Games has not been enough to offset other concerns that people have."
On perceptions of the U.S., it quoted Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes, which also took part in the survey. Kull said people are hopeful about Obama but that “his election alone is not enough to turn the tide. People are still looking to see if there are significant changes in US policies."
The poll shows a nearly across the board increase in negative views of China in European countries, including France (70%, up from 46%), Italy (68%, up from 50%), Germany (69%, up from 59%), and Spain (54%, up from 32%), with corresponding drops in positive views. Other countries with rising negative views are Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, and Australia. Those with strong positive views include Ghana, Nigeria and Central America. Chileans and Mexicans also lean positive, as do Indians and Russians.
Attitudes about China in the United States remain stable, with a slight majority (52%) holding a negative view.
For their part, Chinese have become much more negative about the United States, with negative feelings tallied among 58 percent this year, a sharp rise from the 46 percent last year.
Only one thing to say about all these statistics: They’ll surely be different next year.
China's government is the enemy of the world and is the same old small group controlling the masses while living in splendor!
Posted by: fedup | February 21, 2009 at 09:41 PM
The BBC does these 20-nation polls from time to time. Probably the ones where they have the largest bureaus?
The cause of China's drop among European nations is obvious: Tibet.
Some of the others are puzzling. Did China have some dispute with Turkey last year that I didn't hear about? And what's the deal with Chile -- did they just reach some minerals deal with China?
Aren't blogs supposed to dig a bit deeper than typical newspaper articles? Or is it the other way around?
Posted by: Tom | February 14, 2009 at 02:00 AM
overpopulated: Because they're paid to be there; and frankly, if you're being paid to be in a place you hate, you must be some sort of loser. Maybe they can get transferred to their business' Tokyo office in a few year? At least the food is better in Japan...
Posted by: Inst | February 07, 2009 at 05:07 PM
The eternal, unanswered question about Jay & fellow China-haters: "BUT WHY DO THEY STAY IN CHINA?!..."
Posted by: overpopulated | February 07, 2009 at 03:27 PM
Jay,
Certainly you don't approve of the job the Chinese government has done. You think you can do a better job?
Posted by: Pffefer | February 07, 2009 at 02:28 PM
As someone who lives in China 365 days a year I am astounded that anyone has a positive opinion about the Chinese govt.
Posted by: Jay | February 07, 2009 at 10:13 AM
By linking to the Danwei post above, I was not saying that Danwei is part of the failure of "fair and balanced" reporting. I meant to use what Danwei reported as evidence of the prevalence of pornography on the Chinese internet.
Speaking of fairness, the attention journalists and bloggers have given to the lip-synching in the Superbowl and the finger-synching during Obama's inauguration was nearly not as much as that on the lip-synching in the Olympics. And we're talking about famours musicians here, not a little girl.
Posted by: otoh | February 06, 2009 at 10:29 PM
China certainly "has much to learn about winning hearts and minds in the world". But doesn't part of the problem also lie with foreign journalists?
Take the following as an example:
http://www.danwei.org/internet/baidu_porn_part_ii.php
China's anti-porn campaign in the internet may have a political component, but it also obviously has a strong anti-porn component. Western press reports, however, almost exclusively focus on how the campain might have something to do with political censorship, while ignoring that the campaign is also obviously and significantly targetted at the perfasive pornography online. I've yet to see a Western report about how much porn there indeed is on the Chinese internet, and so some sort of campaign is indeed legitimate and appropriate. It's just pathetic.
Posted by: otoh | February 06, 2009 at 08:34 PM
Well, thanks for that message Tim, I generally don't read news on BBC, except soccer... However, I can't help noticing "(This is among citizens of 20 large nations around the world.)" That's just not representitive at all. If we include citizens of the 120 developing countries, then perhaps we can get a much more representitive opinion. Well, again, it's BBC, what can I expect anyway.
Posted by: Sparkle | February 06, 2009 at 01:56 PM