Iran, US Seen as Most Negative Countries

[2952-0-0]

Iran is the country most widely viewed as having a negative influence in the world, with the US in second place, a new poll for the BBC suggests.

The survey for the BBC World Service asked how 39,435 people in 33 nations across the globe saw various countries.

Views of China, Russia and France have declined in comparison to a similar survey at the end of 2004.

Japan is most widely seen to have a positive influence. Europe has the most positive scores of all in the poll.

West negative

The survey by the international polling firm GlobeScan and the University of Maryland took place between October 2005 and January 2006.

Graph

According to the poll, no country had a majority with a positive view of Iran's role in the world, apart from the Iranians themselves.

On average, just 18% say Iran has a positive influence, while 47% believe the state's role is negative.

Europe and North America have the largest majorities expressing a negative view - with Germany, the US and Italy the most negative about Iran.

Iran is embroiled in a row with the US and European Union over Western fears it is attempting to build nuclear weapons.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at energy production.

Ups and downs

The US has lost ground in some key allied countries, the survey suggests.

In France, 65% had a negative view of the US, up from 54% in the 2004 poll. In Britain the numbers went from 50% to 57%.

Negative views of the US are also up by 20 points in China, eight points in Australia and nine points in Brazil.

Views of China have declined sharply over the last year, according to the poll.

Among the 20 countries polled both years, the number rating China positively has dropped from 13 to eight, while those rating it negatively have risen from three to seven.

But overall, China continues to have more backers than detractors.

Several European countries have developed more negative perceptions of Russia since 2004, the poll suggests.

However, 31 of the 33 states' populations gave Japan a positive rating.

None of the countries had a predominantly negative view of Europe.

The average is 53% positive and 15% negative, excluding the European states asked.

The margin of error in polling ranged from 2.5% to 4%.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Yay! We're not #1 in this anymore

[Alcon]

The China statistic just goes to show that stupidity is an international affair.

[Gabu]

The statement that "overall, China continues to have more backers than detractors" is a really dumb one to make.  If you add up the "positive" and "negative" percentages for China, you get 15%.  That means 85% are undecided.

[Bacon King]

The statement that "overall, China continues to have more backers than detractors" is a really dumb one to make.  If you add up the "positive" and "negative" percentages for China, you get 15%.  That means 85% are undecided.

Not 15%, 15 out of the 20 countries.

Views of China have declined sharply over the last year, according to the poll.

Among the 20 countries polled both years, the number rating China positively has dropped from 13 to eight, while those rating it negatively have risen from three to seven.

But overall, China continues to have more backers than detractors.

Out of the 20, more countries have a positive opinion of China (8 ) than have a negative opinion (7). i.e., more backers than retractors. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it means.

[Gabu]

Not 15%, 15 out of the 20 countries.

Oops, I misread that.  I thought it meant "the overall number of people", not "the number of countries".

[Tory]

People are stupid

[Filuwaúrdjan]

This sort of list just reflects media coverage and not a lot else

[MasterJedi]

People are stupid

You just realized this now?

[opebo]

People are stupid

Yes, there is no reason to rate Iran as negatively as the US.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

To hell with a good international image. We're the biggest empire on the block. We can do whatever we damn well please.