India is America's best friend

[Guest guest]

<h3>India is America's best friend</h3>

Times of India ^ | SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2005 | CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

 

WASHINGTON: Indians are the cowboys' best friend. The world may not think much of America and Americans, but we think the world of Uncle Sam and his folks.

 

The latest survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project finds that amid worldwide opprobrium, America's image is strongest in India.

 

Fully 71 per cent in India expressed a positive opinion of the United States, compared with 54 per cent three years ago.

 

Favorable opinion of the US in India was higher than any of the 15 countries surveyed, including in neighboring Canada (where it declined from 72 per cent three years ago to 59 per cent) and U.K (where it decreased from 75 per cent to 55 per cent)

 

Indians also had the most favourable opinion of the American people -- 71 per cent compared to 70 per cent in Britain, 66 per cent in Canada, 65 per cent in Germany, 64 per cent in France, 61 per cent in Russia and 43 per cent in China.

 

There was more that Indians endorsed.

 

A question as to whether the US foreign policy considers others interest elicited a 63 per cent positive response in India, next only to the US itself where 67 per cent Americans thought it did.

 

Solid majorities in India view Americans as "inventive" (86 per cent), hard-working (81 per cent) and "honest." Fewer than half associate the negative traits "greedy" (43 per cent), "violent" (39 per cent), "immoral" (33 per cent) and "rude" (27 per cent) with Americans.

 

In response to an open-ended question on where a young person should go to lead a good life, 38 per cent Indians named the United States.

 

Indians were more likely to name the US in this regard than any other public surveyed.

 

The survey, now an annual exercise, was conducted among nearly 17,000 people in the United States and 15 other countries from April 20-May 31.

 

Remarkably, attitudes towards the US were least favorable in two countries that are America’s most pampered allies -- Jordan (20 per cent) and Pakistan (23 per cent).

 

Indians, however, fell in line with all other countries in saying it would be better if another country rivaled the US in military power. In India, 81 per cent wanted a rival to US, compared to only 74 per cent in China and Russia who felt so.

 

There was also waning support in India for the US led war on terror (52 per cent), but it was next only to support in the US, Netherlands, Poland and Russia.

 

The survey also shows that a majority of Indians don't "feel good" about the domestic situation.

 

Those satisfied with national conditions were only 41 per cent compared to 57 per cent who were dissatisfied. In contrast, 72 per cent Chinese said they were satisfied.

[Gauracandra]

The article says 71% of Indians have a positive view of America. I'm betting that number is lower among Indian Muslims and higher among Indian Hindus. Considering India has what, 200 - 300 million Muslims (is that right?), I'd say to still reach 71% must mean among Non-Muslims, the figure must be very, very high.

[Guest guest]

notoriously very liberal. So I would add another 10% to adjust for their bias. /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[Guest guest]

polls are liberal is because liberals understand the question=;-]

 

mudmon

 

 

[Gauracandra]

I just checked and Muslims are 12% of the population. So 88% are of another religion. Since Jordan and Pakistan viewed the U.S. favorably 20% & 23% of the time respectively, and without any other poll numbers in that article for other Muslim countries, I decided that I'd say Indian Muslims voted similarly at 25%. Given this, the rest of the population would need about 77% favorable rating to average down to 71% overall. This wasn't as big a jump as I initially thought, simply because before I was incorrectly skewing the weight for the Muslim population.

[Guest guest]

Here's another PEW Poll that is interesting:

 

<h4>Public Finds Bias in the Press, But Views It Favorably </h4>

 

NEW YORK --- Americans have a more favorable opinion of newspapers than other news media outlets, but slightly less than they did four years ago, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The survey, released Sunday, also indicated that more people are questioning the patriotism and fairness of the press.

 

Sixty percent of respondents said news organizations were politically biased, up from 53% two years ago. When asked what news outlets cared about most, a whopping 75% said attracting the biggest audience, compared to 19% who believed it was keeping them informed.

 

Americans also increased their scrutiny of the media as unpatriotic or anti-American, according to the survey. Only forty-two percent of those polled believed news organizations regularly “stand up for America,” compared to 51% just two years ago. Meanwhile, the percentage who believed the press was “too critical of America” rose from 33% in 2003 to 40% this year.

 

Still, most continue to have an overall favorable view of the new media.

 

“Those who expressed favorable opinions of daily newspapers, local TV news, network news and cable news struck similar themes in explaining their positive views of these news outlets,” the report stated. “Respondents most often cited the fact that they are able to get the news and information in a timely fashion; the breadth of coverage; and the ability to stay informed about a wide range of news developments, both locally and globally.”

 

The survey was conducted between June 8 and June 12, with 1,464 people responding to the questionnaire, the survey reported.

 

In another key finding, respondents indicated that they still go to newspapers for news more than the Internet.

But, among younger participants, the gap between newspapers and Web news sources is closing, the survey said.

 

The report also included a length essay by Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. In their piece, the pair pointed out that the public’s diminishing trust in journalism is not to be cited as just a lack of credibility, but as an ongoing demand by readers and viewers for journalistic standards to be upheld.

 

“The public is not rejecting the principles underlying traditional journalism,” the essay states. “Rather, it suspects journalists are not living up to those principles.”

 

In the survey, newspapers received the highest rating among news sources, with 80% offering a favorable opinion of the daily miracle. But, that was down slightly from the 82% rating in a similar 2001 survey. When asked to rate major national newspapers, the percentage dropped further to 61%, down from 74% during the earlier survey.

 

Those findings compared to 79% each for local TV and cable TV news and 75% for network TV news. Still, all news outlets topped several government entities, with President George W. Bush garnering a 55% favorable rating, while Congress received 54% and the Supreme Court 66%. All of those were down from the 2001 poll.

 

Fifty-four percent of those responding believed newspapers were mostly fact-based, compared to 31% who saw them as mostly opinion. Major national papers received an even lower view, with 45% considering them mostly fact, compared to 30% who viewed them as mostly opinion. Still, only local TV news had a better image, with 61% of respondents considering the local newscast as fact-based, while 25% believed it to be mostly opinion.

 

In the battle between newspapers and the Internet, the daily paper remained strong, but losing ground among younger Americans. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said newspapers remained their main source of news, compared to 24% who said the Internet. But, among those 18 to 25, the Web gained ground, with just 37 % of them naming newspapers and 36% citing the Internet. Television blew both away as 74% of those surveyed revealed the TV to be their main news source.

 

Among those who read newspapers, 40% said they read it mostly in print, while 16% cited the Web version of the paper as their main source. Younger readers again chose the Web more, with 23% of those under 25 citing the Web version as their key source, compared to 32% reading the print product.

 

Finally, slightly more than half of respondents, 52%, said the use of anonymous sources was too risky, compared to 44% who said it was okay because it could yield otherwise unreported news. Among those who said they had paid close attention to the recent Deep Throat revelation, 60% were “more positive” about the use of such sources, compared to 41% who had not followed the story that closely. And only 19% of those surveyed said sources should always be revealed, compared to 76% who said it was okay to sometimes keep them confidential.