Views of China and Russia Decline in Global Poll 

Participating Countries

*Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama
Note: In Chile, China, Egypt, Mexico, the Philippines, Turkey, and the countries of Central America urban samples were used. Please see Methodology for further details.

 

Detailed Findings

Public opinion in Russia relative to public opinion in Europe and the US seems to be polarizing. Americans and Europeans have both grown more negative toward Russia, and Russians have become more negative toward the US, the EU, and less positive toward Germany and the UK (but not France). Russia's military action against Georgia and increasing limitations on civil rights may be affecting American and European attitudes, and US and European criticism of Russia may be affecting Russian attitudes. (Note that the polling was done before Russia's cut-off of natural gas supplies to Ukraine and parts of Europe.)

To some extent this polarizing trend seems to be appearing in relations between China and the West as well. Europeans have become more negative toward China, while the Chinese have become more negative toward the US (negative views have risen from 46% to 58%), the EU (16% to 28%), and France (positive views dropped from 64% to 44%—perhaps in reaction to French demonstrations regarding the Tibet issue).

However, Chinese views of the UK have grown more positive (rising from 56% to 67%), as have views of Germany (58% to 65%). And Americans have not grown more negative toward China, with negative views essentially unchanged at 52 per cent.

The US for the first time since 2005 has surpassed Russia in positive ratings (an average of 40% for the US as compared to 30% for Russia), but their negative ratings are similar as are the number of countries giving them predominantly positive or negative ratings.

Sixteen of the countries polled say Japan is having a mostly positive influence in the world. But for the first time, Japan's average ratings have slipped behind those of the UK, due to an increase in the UK's positive rating. Japan suffered from declining views in Germany, Russia, Turkey and the UK.

France’s positive ratings have edged upward from 49 per cent to 52 per cent and 18 of the countries polled give it a positive rating. American public opinion towards France continues to gradually improve; for the first time since the BBC started tracking in 2005, a majority of Americans give France a positive rating. While in 2005, 52 per cent of Americans had a negative view of France (37% positive), now 52 per cent have a positive view (28% negative).

Views of India continue to lean toward the positive, but there has been some erosion. Positive views have slipped from 41 per cent to 39 per cent and negative views have risen from 30 per cent to 33 per cent. This is largely driven by sharp increases in negative views in European countries—France (35% to 50%), Germany (34% to 54%), Italy (30% to 43%), and Spain (35% to 47%)—as well as China (30% to 44%).

North Korea continues to garner quite negative views with an average of 51 per cent (up 4 points) saying it is having a negative influence, and 20 per cent a positive influence. Fifteen countries give it poor ratings, but views are divided in Central America, Chile, China, Egypt, Nigeria and Russia, and lean positive in Ghana.

Canada has the second-most positive ratings with 59 per cent seeing it as having a positive influence in the world. In only one country—Turkey—are views predominantly negative. Positive views are up on average 3 points from two years ago.

The EU has all but one country (Turkey) giving it positive ratings. On average 54 per cent see it as having a positive influence. Its ratings have remained essentially unchanged since last year. The biggest changes have been downward movements in Russia (positive views dropping from 51% to 31%), Turkey (44% to 34%), and China (negative views rising from 16% to 28%). German positive views of the EU have risen (72% to 81%).

All but two countries have a positive view of Brazil. However, their ratings are more modest, with an average of 43 per cent giving them a positive rating and 24 per cent a negative rating. Positive views have risen three points over last year.

South Africa, assessed for the first time this year, elicits evenly-divided views. Average ratings are balanced (33% positive, 32% negative). The most positive ratings come from its African neighbours, Nigeria (62%) and Ghana (60%). The most critical country is Germany (53% negative).

In total 13,575 citizens in Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama), Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone between 21 November 2008 and 1 February 2009. Polling was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan and its research partners in each country. In 7 of the 21 countries, the sample was limited to major urban areas. The margin of error per country ranges from +/-3.3 to 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Average figures quoted for the US, Russia and China include all 21 countries. For other countries, average scores exclude Mexico and Indonesia.

For more details, please see the Methodology section or visit www.globescan.com or www.worldpublicopinion.org.