Pew polls the world on opinions of the US, China, etc.

[Mr. Morden]

Here's Pew's latest world opinions survey:

http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/14/global-opposition-to-u-s-surveillance-and-drones-but-limited-harm-to-americas-image/

Some highlights: Asian countries on how they view their neighbors….and the US:





Next, Russia, China, and most of the Islamic world like China better than the US.  But the US still does OK in most of the rest of the world:



Favorability of the US has declined somewhat in Germany, but is otherwise doing OK among the US's closest allies.  It has taken an enormous hit in Egypt in recent years, with favorability sliding all the way down to 10% this year.  Also taken a big hit in Russia just in the past year:





Meanwhile, China isn't hugely popular in the US or Western Europe, but does OK elsewhere.  Greece does like China better than the US though:



Finally, there seems to be a lot of confusion about who is the world's leading economic power:

[Mr. Morden]

Well, if the US wouldn't be so amateurish in spying Germany, the ratings there would probably be higher ...

I'm really surprised the ratings aren't lower. It's hardly any change from 2012.

The interviews were all conducted before the latest round of accusations, embassy expulsions, etc.  (Though yes, after the news of Merkel's phone being tapped.)

[Mr. Morden]

So, Americans think Britain is their greatest ally? That's a bit of a snub to their biggest trading partner

War trumps trade on people's notions of "greatest ally".

[Mr. Morden]

So, Americans think Britain is their greatest ally? That's a bit of a snub to their biggest trading partner

Remember we declined following them in Irak, unlike Blair.

I don't think it's just that.  Before that, there was the UK participating in the enforcement of the Iraqi no-fly zones for 12 years and joining in stuff like Operation Desert Fox, there was the UK joining in the initial bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001 (though yes, of course Canada and other allies sent troops in shortly thereafter).  More recently, you have Libya in 2011 (which, again, yes, I know Canada participated too, but it was Cameron and Sarkozy who were agitating for action, and it was billed as a US/UK/France mission before the rest of NATO got involved).

In all of these cases, even when Canada participates, it doesn't get as much credit as the UK, both because the UK's position on the Security Council automatically gives it a higher profile, and because the UK's larger population/GDP/military capabilities means that it's coming in with more resources.

[Mr. Morden]

What's up with Greece?

They've been down on the US and Western Europe ever since the economic meltdown, and have started giving higher ratings to traditional Western adversaries Russia and China.

This is from Pew's survey in 2012 (so before the recent issues with Russia and Ukraine, but still), showing the Greeks having a higher opinion of Putin than Obama, Merkel, or Ban Ki-Moon:

[Mr. Morden]

Oh, and going back to the 2014 survey, here are the numbers for Obama:

[Mr. Morden]

In light of the MH17 shootdown, here are some more results from the poll on Russia and Putin (again, these surveys were done post-Ukraine revolution / Crime annexation, but pre-MH17: