TURKS PICK OBAMA OVER MCCAIN FOR US PRESIDENT

Today’s Zaman
23 October 2008, Thursday
Turkey

Turks are widely indifferent toward the outcome of the upcoming
presidential election in the US, but those who care overwhelmingly
favor Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican John McCain,
an international survey has revealed.

Twenty-two percent of the Turks polled said they wanted to see Obama
elected as US president in next month’s election, while only 8 percent
supported McCain, according to a Gallup poll of 70 countries conducted
between May and September. Seventy percent of the Turks surveyed did
not state an opinion.

The results closely parallel findings across the globe. The poll,
published on Tuesday, revealed that around the world respondents
favored Obama four to one over McCain. Among the nations polled,
representing nearly half of the world’s population, 30 percent
of respondents say they would personally rather see Obama elected
president of the United States, compared with just 8 percent who say
the same about McCain. At the same time, 62 percent of world citizens
surveyed did not have an opinion.

People outside of the US seem more divided over whether the outcome of
the US election makes a difference to their country, with 31 percent
saying it does and 21 percent saying it does not. Nearly half of
those surveyed did not have an opinion. In Turkey, 32 percent said
the election outcome would make a difference, while 33 percent said
it would not. Thirty-four percent did not state an opinion.

Senator Obama is popular amongst Turks, but some are concerned
that relations with the United States could suffer a blow under his
presidency given his firm pledges of support for Armenian claims of
genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, charges categorically
denied by Ankara. Obama also caused concern when it emerged that he
referred to Turkey as an "invader" in a letter to a Greek-American
group. McCain, on the other hand, is perceived as a follower of the
policies of the unpopular George W. Bush, and his hawkish stance on
Iran’s nuclear program raises fears of a clash between Washington
and Ankara over sanctions on Tehran.

Overall, people in Europe are the most likely to state a preference
for the next president of the United States and to think the election
makes a difference to their country. Sixty-four percent of French
respondents favored Obama, while only 4 percent expressed support for
McCain. In Britain, 60 percent favored Obama as opposed to 15 percent
for McCain. More than 70 percent of respondents in the Netherlands
and Norway picked the Democratic candidate.

In Asia, respondents turned out to be the least likely to state a
preference for the next president of the United States or to think
the election makes a difference to their country. In individual
countries, only Georgia, which fought a brief war against Russia over
the breakaway region of South Ossetia in August, Cambodia, Laos and
the Philip-pines prefer McCain to Obama.

In Canada, 67 percent chose Obama and 22 percent picked McCain. Also,
75 percent of Canadian respondents said the presidential election
would make a difference to their own country. The Democratic nominee
also enjoyed levels of support higher than 60 percent in Australia,
Ger-many, England and Japan, where the US election was viewed as
having a global impact.