BBC Country Rating Poll

[Trisonics]

Here is the link to discussions on PDF for last year's poll:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-...ice-poll-survey-country-wise-perceptions.html

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he BBC World Service Country Rating Poll has been tracking opinions about country influence in the world since 2005. The latest results are based on 28,619 in-home or telephone interviews conducted across a total of 27 countries by the international polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork between December 2, 2010 and February 4, 2011.

Doug Miller, Chairman of GlobeScan, commented: "The growing credibility of middle powers is the story this year, especially Brazil and South Africa. The jump in positive views of Brazil follows the successful democratic transition from President Lula da Silva to Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president."

"While last year relatively dour views of most nations were prevalent--perhaps reflecting the mood of the economic downturn--the mood now seems to be relatively upbeat," says Steven Kull, Director of PIPA.

Participating Countries

Overall, positive ratings increased of 13 of the 16 nations rated. These include the USA--positive views of American influence rose an average of four points to 49 per cent, with 31 per cent negative. The United Kingdom's positive ratings rose five points to 58 per cent, making it, for the first time, the second most positively rated country. This upwards movement for many countries counters a downward movement found in 2010, but also, in most cases, surpasses the levels found in earlier years.

In marked contrast, the three most negatively viewed countries saw their average ratings go from bad to worse, including Iran (59% negative, up 3 points since 2010), North Korea (55%, up 6 points), and Pakistan (56%, up 5 points). There was a significant increase in negative views of Iran in key Western countries including the United Kingdom (up 20 points), Canada (up 19 points), the USA (up 18 points), and Australia (up 15 points). However, Israel, for many years among the least positively viewed nations, bucked this trend, keeping its negative ratings at 49 per cent and showing a slight lift in positive ratings from 19 to 21 per cent.

 

[Trisonics]

India

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 PM ----------

 

[Trisonics]

What is particularly interesting is that opinion of China, rates India both higher as a positive influence and lower as a negative influence than Pakistan

Does this portray the perception of common people in China?( of course PAK will always be strategically important to China )

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

What is particularly interesting is that opinion of China, rates India both higher as a positive influence and lower as a negative influence than Pakistan

Does this portray the perception of common people in China?( of course PAK will always be strategically important to China )

Most people in China don't know anything about politics, and just go by what they read on the news.

Among those Chinese who are aware of the past history of relations between China/Pakistan/India... these individuals will tend to rate Pakistan at the top, or near the top.

EDIT: It is interesting to note that that China's attitude towards India is quite balanced... while India's view of China, is extremely negative.

There is the direction of the hostility.

 

[StingRoy]

What is particularly interesting is that opinion of China, rates India both higher as a positive influence and lower as a negative influence than Pakistan

Does this portray the perception of common people in China?( of course PAK will always be strategically important to China )

3-4 percentage point is within the margin of error, so I would say they rate both India and China equally in terms of influence.

 

[StingRoy]

I am more surprised to see Germany on top in the overall influence chart... Brazil and SA also are a surprise on the global influence sphere. Good to see these countries rising up to the international level. I think SA is shaping up to be a representative for Africa.

 

[justanobserver]

What is particularly interesting is that opinion of China, rates India both higher as a positive influence and lower as a negative influence than Pakistan

Does this portray the perception of common people in China?( of course PAK will always be strategically important to China )

Extremely interesting.

Also perception of Pakistanis towards China is 66% favorable, Chinese view towards Pakistan is just 37% favorable.

Positive Views of Brazil on the Rise in 2011 BBC Country Rating Poll - World Public Opinion

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Hey Stingroy, what do you think of my above post, re: the direction of hostility?

I.e. India's views of China are overwhelmingly hostile... while China's views of India are actually quite balanced.

 

[justanobserver]

@OP you forgot to link towards the PDF , here it is

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/mar11/BBCEvals_Mar11_rpt.pdf

 

[StingRoy]

EDIT: It is interesting to note that that China's attitude towards India is quite balanced... while India's view of China, is extremely negative.
There is the direction of the hostility.

First of all if you look at the sample space it is too narrow to get a good estimation (averaging around 1000 people per country).

Now assuming that it is evenly spread out around the countries geography, you will see a majority of Chinese lying in the eastern region where of course the threat perception from India is possibly less because of the geographic distance.

Whereas assuming a similar spread in the sample space in India, you would find that a majority of the people (density of population) has a much closer proximity to the Indo-Chinese borders. So any negative news in the media has a multiplicative effect in minds of the public. Hence a higher negative perception in India's sample space.

 

[justanobserver]

Opinion of China

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Now assuming that it is evenly spread out around the countries geography, you will see a majority of Chinese lying in the eastern region where of course the threat perception from India is possibly less because of the geographic distance.

I'm not sure that "distance" is that much of a factor, given the charts above.

I would argue that it is due to the Indian media printing stories like this:

China could attack India before 2012 - NDTV.com

It will probably balance out on the Chinese side eventually, as more Chinese people start reading that stuff.

 

[StingRoy]

I'm not sure that "distance" is that much of a factor, given the charts above.

I would argue that it is due to the Indian media printing stories like this:

China could attack India before 2012 - NDTV.com

I knew you would come back with this statement... I could almost smell it.

The reason why the Indian media is printing such stories is explained by the logic in my previous post. It is because more people are going to be affected in India than China, hence the media reports on these issues penetrates deeper into the psyche... and as always anything sensationalist sells well in India.

 

[justanobserver]

United States

Russia

Iran (extremely divided views)

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

I knew you would come back with this statement... I could almost smell it.

The reason why the Indian media is printing such stories is explained by the logic in my previous post. It is because more people are going to be affected in India than China, hence the media reports on these issues penetrates deeper into the psyche... and as always anything sensationalist sells well in India.

Well if it makes you guys feel better, those Indian opinions are penetrating into the Chinese parts of the Internet.

So we should see it starting to balance out on our end too.