A European Bounce for Candidate Obama
Latest Gallup Poll suggests Obama lead grew while in Europe
From the 200,000 Germans that showed up to see Senator Obama speak in Berlin, to the press conference he had with a gushing French President Nicolas Sarkozy, it is not hard to understand why one European newspaper referred to him as, “Arguably the world’s most popular politician.”
But during a press conference with Sarkozy, one French journalist asked the politically astute question: “Is it a good thing to be loved by the French in the United States?”
Obama replied by saying both countries have suffered from caricatures — America as unilateral and militaristic, and France as anti-American and soft on security, but that in actuality, “The average American has enormous fondness for the French people,” Obama said. “And I think people in France and people throughout Europe should not underestimate how much interest there is in America in seeing the transatlantic relationship improving.”
Obama’s trip to the Middle East and Europe was designed, in part, to give those who doubted his presidential capacity, particularly in matters of foreign affairs, a glimpse of the junior Senator from Illinois being, well, “presidential.”
And it seems to have worked.
A July 26th Gallup Poll suggests that Obama has actually widened his lead over Republican John McCain while in Europe. Obama’s current seven-point lead over McCain ties the widest since the start of Gallup Poll Daily tracking of the general election in early March. The one other time there was a seven point difference was immediately after Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination in early June.
Let me make this clear, polling is not an exact science, and swings of a couple of points here or there really don’t mean that much. And certainly some portion of the widening gap is attributable to the extra media coverage the trip sparked.
But as the Barack Obama Summer World Tour winds up today in London, it is plain to see the presumptive Democratic nomminee’s rock-star appeal is not bound by the shores of the United States. And Americans have reacted to candidate Obama’s overseas trip quite favorably.
Is it possible that the blinders that kept so many Americans from seeing how the rest of the world actually perceives us are now revealing that they have some holes?
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Image Credits: 1. Obama for President; 2. Gallup.
Poll Shows Obama Gets European Bump, Widens Margin | politikly.com…
\r\nThe latest Gallup national poll suggests presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obam…
Well think about it, the choice comes down to either Obama or “McSame”. We all know what “McSame” is going to get us so therefore, the lesser of the two evils is quite obvious!
JT
I think Obama has certainly gained momentum from this trip. We need honest president who hopefully take out us from middle of all mess.
To James Wodods:
I strongly disagree that “he is the lesser of two evils” This is a candidate that comes every few generations. You are right showing the sentiment of the American people are tired of policies in the U.S. However, I really don’t think this is 2004 where it was truly the “lesser of two evils” and we somehow ended up with more evil.
Amazing…..simply amazing. I wonder where the Gallup Poll people got their information that Obama is a nice guy? All the information I get from Europe states he is now known for his infamous speech….The “Four Faces of Obama” speech as somewhat of a jerk. He would only talk to U.S.A. reporters and snubbed the European reporters. He wants stronger relations with Europe yet snubs their reporters? You don’t do that and expect to make friends! Every body bad mouths McCain, yet Obama…..they just say he is having a bad day. B.S.!!!
What a bunch of hogwash!!
The reason Europe loves Obama is they are all cut from the same cloth. They are all liberals, and can relate to him.
God help us if he becomes president.
Think we have problems now? This Ship we’re on will sink faster then the Titanic, mark my words
This is a clear choice. It should be certainly. It should be clear to us in American and it is certainly clear to the rest of the world. I was ashamed that we re-elected Bush to a 2nd term rather than elect a clearly smarter politician in Kerry. I think we need to grow up as a nation and realize that voting for whom you would want to hang out with at your BBQ is not the litmus test that is intelligent to use when selecting a President.
Pick the smart one. Pick the objective and rational one. Pick Obama.
Ingrid, all our current problems are caused by republicans. Get a clue. Try to think for yourself for once, instead of swallowing all the racist propaganda of fox news.
Ingrid, go curl up with a bible somewhere cuz it’s obvious you straddle the “conservative” fence. You’d rather have Mccain as president…him who bashes Obama for his lack of experience in foreign policy YET STILL does not realize Czechoslovakia is no longer a country (Czech Republic) whom believes Iraq and Pakistan share a border (Afghanistan/Pakistan) and jokes about bomb-bomb-bombing Iran. Everyone was quick to call Obama an “appeaser” because he said he’d talk to Iran YET in the past week, Bush JUST SENT somebody to go talk to Iran (which he said he wouldn’t do months ago). Do you just fail to realize Obama is a rational man and knows the right thing to do? The republicans are the reason this country is in the sh!tter and the quicker they lose their power, the quicker this country is going to turn around. And lastly, I trust the guy who finished Magna Cum Laude from HARVARD over the guy who finished 894 out of 899 at the Naval Academy. For all of John Mccain’s “service” which is supposed to be his “experience” he is rather clueless about the world around him….OH AND ONE MORE THING….you know how you’re reading this..on this crazy thing called the internet….MCCAIN CAN’T EVEN USE THE INTERNET!!! HAHHAHAHAHHAHA
[...] Elections,” Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 3, Sep., 2005 [↩]Although the limited bump he received after his trip abroad suggests he may have maxed himself out on his foreign [...]