The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Washington

The matchup between John McCain and Barack Obama is close in nationwide surveys in the USA, but around the world it's no contest: Obama prevails.

A survey of 24 nations taken by the Pew Global Attitudes Project finds high levels of interest in the U.S. presidential election and broad optimism that American foreign policy "will change for the better" after the inauguration of a new president next year.

In all but three nations, those polled express more faith in Obama than in McCain to "do the right thing regarding world affairs." They were essentially tied in the USA. In Pakistan and Jordan, neither inspires much confidence.

"Obama obviously has an appeal that has crossed the waters," says Andrew Kohut, who directs the Pew project. "Some of it may have to do with his being associated with opposition to the war in Iraq, which is consistent with views of people around the world. Some of it may have to do with his charismatic qualities and the fact that he's different than the typical American presidential candidate."

However, the countries where people are paying the least attention include Indonesia, where Obama spent four years as a child. Just 15% of Indonesians say they're following the election closely.

Optimism about a new president is broad. About two-thirds of those surveyed in France, Spain, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania predict U.S. foreign policy will improve after the inauguration. In 20 nations, more say U.S. foreign policy will change for the better than for the worse.

Only in Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt and Lebanon were people inclined to predict a turn for the worse.

AFP adds: Democrat Barack Obama's bid to become the first African-American US president has raised hopes in Europe and Africa, where majorities foresee a positive change in US foreign policy, a survey suggested on Thursday.

While Obama received more positive marks overall than his Republican rival John McCain among the 24 countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes project, not all looked forward to improvement with November's election.

"Excepting countries that are extremely anti-American, the Muslim countries, we find most people saying that they think that the next president will represent a change for the better with respect to foreign policy," said Pew president Andrew Kohut.

At least one-third of respondents in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan anticipated that US foreign policy would change for the worse with a new US president, no matter who is elected, while the number of those expecting a positive change ranked 30, 25 and 19 percent respectively.

In contrast, more than two thirds of respondents in France, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Germany saw change for the better.

When it came specifically to Obama, a 46-year-old Illinois senator and son of a Kenyan father and white American mother, the highest confidence ratings came from Tanzania and France (84 percent), Germany (82), Australia (80), Japan (77) and Britain (74).

"People around the world who have been paying attention to the American election express more confidence in Barack Obama than John McCain to do the right thing regarding world affairs," the report said.

"McCain is rated lower than Obama in every country surveyed, except for the United States where his rating matches Obama's, as well as in Jordan and Pakistan where few people have confidence in either candidate."

Obama's lowest ratings were seen in Turkey, where 62 percent said they had little or no confidence that Obama would do the right thing in world affairs. Even more Turks said the same of McCain (71 percent).