Barely half of Americans say the leaders of other countries have a great deal (18%) or a fair amount (35%) of respect for Barack Obama, while 29% think he gets “not much” respect from fellow world leaders and 18% think he gets no respect at all, according to the Economist/YouGov poll of 1000 adults nationwide, conducted May 14-17, 2011.
That sense their president gets little or no respect is reflected in Americans’ current stand-offishness when it comes to America’s role in the world. Today, only 9% say America has a responsibility to intervene militarily in trouble spots around the globe. Three times that number (28%) say America has no responsibility whatsoever, while most (47%) are in the middle, saying the U.S. should intervene militarily but only as part of an international coalition.
Nor do most Americans feel the U.S. should pick-and-choose its friends based on that country’s record for being democratically elected, or even whether the country is a steady ally of the U.S. If they had to choose, 26% say it is better to support a non-democratic government that is a steady ally, 28% say it is better to support a democratically-elected government regardless of that government’s attitude toward the U.S., and 46% say they don’t know what’s best in that regard.
Full datasets for Economist/YouGov polls can be found here.
Photo source: Press Association
