BBC NEWS | Israel, Iran top 'negative list'

From BBC NEWS, Israel, Iran top ‘negative list’.

From the article:

A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.

The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.

Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.

Yes, the U.S. gets the bronze, beating North Korea to the podium in the « negative influence » category. Good job.

The article has a link to the detailed study, with a breakdown by country. Here are some tidbits regarding US-French relations:

France continues to be viewed quite positively by the rest of the world, though less positively than two years ago. The only country to not view France’s influence positively was Turkey, while the United States was divided. On average, 50 percent see France as having a positive influence in the world (21% negative).

American views have also notably improved. Americans’ negative ratings of France continue to drift downward from 52 percent in 2005, to 48 percent in 2006 and 41
percent in 2007. For the first time in three years views are now roughly divided (38% positive, 41% negative).

Worldviews of the United States continue to worsen, with most countries having a largely negative view of the US. Across all 27 countries polled (excluding the US
self-evaluation), half (51%) now say the US is playing a mainly negative role in the world.

Additionally, the number of American respondents who believe the United States is having a positive influence in the world has also decreased six points, from 63% to
57%, and has dropped a total of fourteen points (from 71%) from 2005.