{UAH} Obama Administration Wins High Approval Ratings Worldwide

Obama Administration Wins High Approval Ratings Worldwide

U.S. News & World Report

Teresa Welsh 9 hrs ago

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© REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST U.S. President Barack Obama smiles as he delivers remarks at a reception for supporters of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington…

The Obama administration has the highest approval rating  of any country in the world among foreign citizens, according to a new poll conducted by Gallup. Forty-five percent of those polled approved of U.S. leadership, down one percentage point from 2013.

Russia had the lowest global approval rating, at just 22 percent. This is down two percentage points from 2013. Russian approval ratings have lagged behind those of the U.S., China, E.U., Germany and Russia since 2007, but in 2014 the gap grew wider; Russia was the only country with more disapprovals than approvals. The nine countries with the highest level of disapproval of Russia were in Europe, and five of those are NATO members.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's European neighbors have become increasingly frustrated with his country's advances into Ukrainian territory. Putin continues to deny that Russia is fueling the unrest in Eastern Ukraine following his annexation of the Ukrainian province of Crimea last year. Only 5 percent of Ukrainians approved of Russian leadership in 2014, which marks a 42 percentage point drop from 2013.

Americans had a 12 percent approval rating of Putin in 2014,​ a decrease of 11 percentage points from the previous year. In Russia, 82 percent disapproved of U.S. leadership and 70 percent disapproved of E.U. leadership.

Following Russia, the highest disapproval of the U.S. comes from the Palestinian Territories, at 72 percent. The Palestinian Territories also have high disapproval of the E.U. leadership, at 53 percent, and German leadership, at 67 percent.

Palestinians have consistently been road blocked by the international community in its attempts to seek statehood. The U.S. and Germany are both staunch Israeli allies, and the U.S. has been particularly defensive of Israel in the U.N. In December, the U.S. voted against a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have required establishment of a Palestinian State by 2017.

The U.S. supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the last round of peace talks collapsed a year ago. The current political environment won't allow for resumption any time soon, so the Palestinians have resorted to other measures, like joining the International Criminal Court, in an attempt to move toward statehood.

China's overall approval rating remains at 29 percent, unchanged from the previous two years. Gallup does not ask Chinese residents their opinion on their own government or foreign governments "because of the sensitive nature of the question" in the Communist country.

The 10 countries with the highest approval of China are all in Africa, with Mali having the highest rating at 86 percent. The five countries with the highest disapproval of China are all European.

Gallup polled approximately 1,000 adults aged 15 or older in 135 countries or areas in the U.S., Germany and Russia and 136 countries or areas in the European Union and China. The study has a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Copyright 2015 U.S. News & World Report

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