Views of America.

To get a detailed look into views of America and to establish an idea of what numerous countries attitudes are, I looked at the ‘Pew Research Center’ which provided me with numerous statistics and charts that highlight the rise in anti Americanism, an idea also picked up on in others blogs, however it shows a rise in confidence and change in attitude with the election of Barack Obama.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/03/05/reviving-americas-global-image/

America’s ratings plummeted following the invasion of Iraq and they continued to remain low right into 2008. However come 2009, opinions have started to rise. Western Europe, supposedly where American’s greatest Allies are, saw the biggest jump; Germany doubled in one year going from 31% in 2008 to 64% in 2009, and a huge increase was seen in France (42% to 75%.)

Despite these increases, the chart still demonstrates that amongst the Muslim world, views of America are still considerably low.  For example Turkey still retains a negative view of America and has done throughout the 21^st Century, the lowest rating coming in 2007 and a pitiful 9%. As always there is an exception to the rule, the exception being this time Indonesia; the reasoning behind this is Obama and his family connections to the area, which clearly has not gone unnoticed with their ratings of America going from 37% to 63% over a one year period.

However it could be argued that rather than an increase in favorability to America, the countries and their people are simply reacting to the one particular person and a change in power, this being Obama, as the chart demonstrates; many believe Obama “Will Do The Right Thing in World Affairs” whether this was because he was the first black president America had ever had or people did expect a change.

Despite this positive opinion of Obama, problems that continuously occur and that are relevant to world itself remain the same. Overwhelming numbers around the world continue to see the United States as having a big often bag influence on their own countries. Furthermore America is seen as a country that only really looks out for itself when it comes to foreign policy, this therefore adding more negativity.

 

 http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/06/13/chapter-2-attitudes-toward-american-culture-and-ideas/

This hyperlink leads to another PEW research page, rather than looking at the world’s favourability of America, this particular article identifies particular areas in which the United States is considered to have a good or bad impact. For example, the way the United States does it business has seen a big increase in all the countries since Obama took over from the years in which Bush was in the White House. Furthermore, despite previous blogs saying countries dislike the American customs, this particular research says differently, and in fact says that in 2012 many countries support American customs and ideas. 

I believe also, the most telling chart is the one showing if the percentage of young people who are more open to American ideas and customs. It also shows the older generations attitudes to America culture; this demonstrates that the younger generations will continue to grow up with a more Americanised society of which they are willing to accept and will continue to receive heavier influences from America.

Despite chart demonstrating a dislike for certain American cultural habits or tendancies, the PEW research from 2012 shows that there is in fact a strong positive attitude to many American ideas and the way they do things. The influences they have on the world, for instance technology, democracy are in fact helping and developing not only themselves but others around them.Due to this I would argue that the world at them moment is more Americanised that it has ever been, and it will only continue to become more so. Furthermore, other countries may seem to complain about America but according to the research that was published this year, June 2012, they are more than willing to embrace it.