Sean: 世論調査：「枢軸国が世界に良い影響！」

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Posted by Sean:
世論調査：「枢軸国が世界に良い影響！」
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1207128404.shtml


   The Yomiuri is trumpeting ([1]Japanese/[2]English) a poll it conducted
   in cooperation with the BBC, the results of which were as follows:

     Japan got the most positive ratings overall along with Germany,
     while the percentage of respondents giving Japan negative ratings
     was the second-lowest after Germany (18 percent).
     The survey was conducted across 34 countries from October to
     January, asking opinions about the influence of 13 countries and
     the European Union in the world in the the areas of politics,
     economy and security. The Yomiuri Shimbun participated as a local
     research partner in the survey, commissioned by the BBC.
     Fifty-two percent of respondents said the EU has a mostly positive
     influence, followed by Britain and France, each with 50 percent.
     The country with the most negative ratings was Iran at 54 percent,
     followed by Israel (52 percent) and Pakistan (50 percent).

   The BBC site has the [3]results of the poll with bar graphs and--who'd
   have predicted this?--the headline " World views US 'more
   positively.'"

                            [4]BBC_inf_poll.gif 

     Open the PDF file that gives a breakdown of the results and more
     information about the survey instrument. I was interested in how
     the questions were phrased; apparently, people really were just
     asked, "Please tell me if you think each of the following countries
     are having a mainly positive or mainly negative influence in the
     world...." You also get gems such as these:

     When asked for their views of their own country's influence in the
     world, Japanese citizens are the most modest of those polled, with
     only 36 percent saying Japan is having a mainly positive influence.
     Americans come next with only 56 percent saying the US is having a
     positive influence. Conversely, fully 91 percent of Chinese
     citizens and 78 percent of Russian citizens say their country is
     having a positive influence.

     I'm guessing that stories about poisonous Chinese exports are
     deemphasized by Xinhua and other Chinese media outlets, so those
     surveyed who don't go abroad a lot may not be aware of just how
     colorful China's influence has sometimes been since its economy
     started booming.
     Since I'm American and therefore mindlessly fixated on my own
     homeland, I also made a beeline for the page about respondents'
     views of the States. Note the stats for Canada.

References

   1. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/feature/20080116-907457/news/20080402-OYT1T00195.htm
   2. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080402TDY01305.htm
   3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7324337.stm
   4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7324337.stm