Yes, I have...
Most Americans Rate India Favorably, Pakistan Unfavorably
Posted on 02/28/2006 11:48:27 PM PST by CarrotAndStick
HOUSTON: While United States favourability ratings have plunged in many countries, Indians are significantly more positive about the US now than they were in the summer of 2002, a new opinion poll has said.
The 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that 71 per cent of Indians have a favourable view of the United States and 54 per cent admire President Bush in handling world affairs.
What mostly attracts Indians is that America remains a land of opportunity despite its booming economy today. Asked where they would recommend that a young person move in order to lead a good life, a 38 per cent plurality of Indians choose the United States.
This finding may seem a weak endorsement, given America's longstanding image as a hopeful new world for immigrants; however, in no other country does even a plurality recommend the US to the hypothetical young person searching for a better life.
In other countries, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany are all more popular choices. After India, Poland has the second largest share of respondents recommending the United States as a destination.
Having suffered terrorist attacks in their own recent history, including a December 2001 assault on the Indian Parliament, Indians tend to support the war on terrorism.
Just over half 52 per cent favour US led efforts to fight terrorism, a level of support similar to many European countries, and significantly higher than in predominantly Muslim countries.
As in many other countries, however, support for the campaign against terrorism has slipped among Indians since 2002, when, just months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, 65 per cent backed US policies.
On Iraq, India is the only country other than the US in which a plurality 45 per cent believes the removal of Saddam from power has made the world a safer place, and Indians are even less likely than Americans to say the Iraq war made the world more dangerous.
Indians, however, do not regret their country's decision not to use force in Iraq - 75 per cent say their government did the right thing in abstaining from the US led coalition.
In the world's largest democracy, moreover, President Bush, who is unpopular in many countries around the globe, is also widely admired.
Indeed, of the 16 countries surveyed on this question in 2005, India was the only one, aside from the United States, in which a majority expressed at least some confidence in the American President.
By contrast, the President is viewed much more negatively in Pakistan, the next stop on Bush's South Asian trip. Just 10 per cent of Pakistanis express a great deal or some confidence in Bush to do the right thing regarding world affairs.
Morocco 9 per cent , Turkey 8 per cent, and Jordan 1 per cent were the only countries surveyed to voice less confidence in Bush than Pakistanis.
Despite their pro-American attitudes, Indians would like to see another power become as militarily strong as the United States. Indeed, Indians are among the most likely to favour another country or group of countries rising to the level of global superpower.
Still, there is less support among Indians for China becoming as militarily powerful as the United States. Indians are split over this issue, with 45 per cent saying that if China became America's military equal this would be a good thing and 45 per cent saying this would be a bad development.
Here, India occupies something of a middle ground between European countries, which generally oppose the potential military rise of China, and majority Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia, and Turkey, which generally welcome the idea of a strong China that could rival US military strength.
Indians, however, are more supportive of Chinese economic power - 53 per cent believe China's growing economy is a good thing for India.
Income is related to views about Chinese military and economic power, as wealthier Indians are more worried about China becoming a military rival to the US and more concerned about China as an economic threat to India.
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©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Estd. 1838, in India.
India has a trade surplus with China.
India would be a useful counter weight to China. After all, China is now the 2nd most populous country, behind India.
No, it is not. China's population is around 1.35 billion. India's is 1.07 billion.
A difference of around 300 million people. India is expected to overtake China by 2030 or so. But then, 30 years is a long time.
Thank you for the correction, I was misinformed I was told China had 1.1 billion. But the point holds. We want good relations with India for both directions. India also is a firebreak on the ME.
Indeed.
This one? They are all Muslims, peppered with some Hindu Leftists/ Communists:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1433492.cms
Thousands rally in Delhi to protest Bush visit
NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of people waving black and white flags and chanting "Death to Bush!" rallied on Wednesday in New Delhi to protest a visit by US President George W Bush.
Crowd estimates varied, but one police officer said as many as 100,000 people, most of them Muslim, had gathered in a fairground in central New Delhi ordinarily used for political rallies, ahead of Bush's arrival late on Wednesday.
Among the speakers was Raj Babbar, who said: "Whether Hindu or Muslim, the people of India have gathered here to show our anger. We have only one message- killer Bush go home".
While Bush remains more popular in India than he is in many other countries, many* here object to US policies, especially the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Wednesday's protesters carried placards that read: "Bully Bush, Go Home", and "Death to America, Death to Bush".
Police, some of them armed with rifles, were heavily deployed around the fairground, but as the rally grew, protesters charged a stage where about 200 Muslim leaders were waiting to speak, knocking over television cameras.
Surindra Singh Yadav, a senior police officer in charge of crowd control, said there were about 100,000 protesters.
*- Muslims/ Commies/ Leftists again.
bttt
I believe that the majority of the middle class in India are ardent supporters of Bush and America. Let us handle the Muslims...its part of the Democratic process to let them protest and demonstrate. If we don't do it, we will be damned in posterity. It is imperative however that concessions are made in order for this support for America to grow in India. I don't see a nuclear India, equipped with America with missile technology posing a threat to American interests in any way. I believe that it will be in America's strategic interests to share rocket technology with India. Blackwill et al have pretty much said the same thing in their columns.
India and China will remain competitors and probably risk military rivalry in the future. India isn't comfortable with China's efforts to contain it in the international arena as well its activities in encircling India with naval bases in strategic ports in the Arabian sea (read Gwadar in Pakistan and Myanamar's islands). If America can come across as a more reliable ally, I am sure it can enlist India's support against China and its effort to Democratise the world. We don't have super power ambitions and we will be willing to accept a solitary superpower in the world if that power were to be on our side. I think its a reasonable proposition. Bush must make bold concessions during his visit.
Let's hope the visit will herald a new era of Indo-American ties.
Have you all ever seen these polls where Americans are surveyed what they think about various nations?
Of course, our media refuses to place these surveys side-by-side. Fact of the matter is that the US holds the rest of the world in far, far higher esteem than they grant us.
So many would accuse the US of being arrogant, but look who is so unwilling to accept the good will of another nation and runs around with a chip on their shoulder: the US it is not.
I've quit caring about these popularity contests. If the rest of the world wants to spew its negativity, let it. It's their attitude problem. Refuse to see the good in people, and you'll be bitter forever.
Absolutely. These two countries need each now but will even moreso in the coming clash of civilizations, and are natural allies. Whatever differences they may have, they must work them out.
Yes, I have...
Most Americans Rate India Favorably, Pakistan Unfavorably
I was having lunch in an Indian restaraunt a couple weeks ago and was seated next to a table of young Indian professionals. I couldn't help but to overhear some of their conversation in which one man (probably in his early 30's) related how his family wanted him to move back to India but how he loved living in the United States and wanted to remain here and live the rest of his life as an American. It seemed like his tablemates were in agreement. It was very gratifying to hear.
Meanwhile, anti-US Reuters reports about protest by Indian Muslims and Communists protesting the visit of President Bush in India.
About 300 million. But that still leaves about 200 million who are desperately poor, of Indias 1.07 billion population. The rest are just slightly better off than the desperately poor, and also a slice of the super-rich.
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