Polls Polls Polls

We've discussed their advantages and disadvantages, their accuracies and discrepancies, their power in the media, and the list goes on. Voters watch them. Media reports them. We are fascinated by the grand horse race that polls represent as the election approaches. Ahead. Behind. Ahead. Behind. Tight race. Close call. 

Generally though, these polls focus on voter behavior among citizens in our own country. Naturally, it's our vote that is going to count on November 4. But, while both candidates chat away about their foreign policy platforms in the political arena, I think it's interesting to see how the rest of the world feels about our presidential candidate picks. 

For the first time, I looked at the results of global poll that FOX reported yesterday. Interestingly, the poll found that Barack Obama was the preferred presidential candidate in 16 out of 17 countries surveyed. The one country that preferred John McCain: the U.S. 

However, keep a few facts in mind. For one, the poll was taken before the August conventions. Reader's Digest magazine released the poll yesterday. It asked 17,000 people in 17 different countries, including the U.S., who the preferred presidential candidate would be. Although the poll favored McCain in the U.S., this result obviously clashes with the most recent Gallup daily tracking polls reporting Obama holding a 50-42 percent lead over McCain. 

For Obama's campaign, the better the reputation in the rest of the world, the better. But are these global polls really affecting the attitudes of Americans? I assume not. As FOX reported Reader's Digest Washington Bureau Chief saying, a number of Republican issues are not of the same concern in European countries. Other countries also naturally associate McCain with Bush. 

Although the accuracy of these polls may vary, it would be interesting to see which candidate people around the world favor, based on their individual attitudes toward the many issues on the political agenda.