Obama win preferred in world poll.

This will come as no surprise to anyone, but it does make the fact that many polls in the US show the candidates to be neck and neck, or even some showing McCain to be in the lead, to be all the more astonishing.

A poll taken amongst the rest of the world shows that, outside of the United States, Barack Obama is preferred to John McCain by a four-to-one margin across the 22,500 people polled in 22 countries.

In 17 countries, the most common view was that US relations with the rest of the world would improve under Mr Obama.

If Republican Mr McCain were elected, the most common view was that relations would remain about the same.

The world wants America back and feels that it can only get America back if Barack Obama is elected, as a John McCain presidency would obviously represent more of the same to most of the world. More American aggression, more American arrogance, more of America flouting international law.

The countries most optimistic that an Obama presidency would improve ties were US Nato allies - Canada (69%), Italy (64%), France (62%), Germany (61%), and the UK (54%) - as well as Australia (62%), along with Kenya (87%) and Nigeria (71%).

When asked whether the election as president of the African-American Mr Obama would "fundamentally change" their perception of the US, 46% said it would while 27% said it would not.

Even Americans appeared to realise that an Obama presidency would benefit the US's relationship with the rest of the planet.

The US public was polled separately and Americans also believed an Obama presidency would improve US ties with the world more than a McCain presidency.

Forty-six per cent of Americans expected relations to get better if Mr Obama were elected and 30% if Mr McCain won the White House.

Of course, the reality is that such a poll is meaningless: it is Americans who will choose their next president and they will do so with no thought at all as to how the rest of the world thinks.

But it says something about the message that Barack Obama is sending out, as opposed to the message that McCain is transmitting, that the world yearns an Obama presidency and an end to the madness which George Bush represented.

The last eight years have been very dark in terms of international co-operation and international law. Perhaps, sitting on the very top of the tree, it is not always easy for Americans to appreciate the view which the rest of us enjoy. But the international law which Bush so despised - and openly flaunted - is the very thing which keeps non-Americans safe. It is for this reason that, under Bush, American popularity around the globe has plummeted.

Obama talks as if he understands this and he wants to return America to the international community. That is why so many people, all around the globe, yearn for him to be made president. Clinton summed it up best at the Democratic Convention: we want an America that leads by the power of it's example, rather than an America which leads through the example of it's power.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Obama, McCain, world opinion, US election 2008, Clinton