BBC World poll: In 20 countries, Obama clear choice for president

If citizens around the world could vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, President Barack Obama would most likely win in a landslide, according to a 21-nation poll released Monday.

A new BBC World Service poll surveyed people in 21 countries and found that, in 20 of the 21 countries, Obama is preferred to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, said international polling firm GlobeScan in a press release. The survey was conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA between 3 July and 3 September. "Obama’s election in 2008 led to a major recovery of America’s image in the world and people are showing little interest in changing horses now," said Steven Kull, Director of The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). On average, 50 percent would like to see Obama elected, while only 9 percent prefer Romney, according to the survey of 21,797 adult citizens of the 21 countries. The rest offered no preference between the two. France was the most strongly pro-Obama (72%). Obama's ancestral homeland of Kenya (18%) was the most pro-Romney. Only Pakistan's respondents said they would prefer to see Romney win November's election, according to the BBC. The emphatic preference for Obama’s re-election worldwide is in sharp contrast to the state of public opinion in the USA, where polls now show the two candidates to be nearly tied in public backing. GlobeScan Director of Global Insights Sam Mountford comments: “While the presidential race in America looks like going down to the wire, global public opinion appears to be firmly behind Barack Obama’s re-election—even if two in five express no preference between the two candidates.” This poll couldn't be any timelier as it comes on the night Obama and Romney spar over foreign policy, in the third and final presidential debate, ahead of the election on November 6.