WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama gets a more favorable rating in western Europe and Asia than at home, but his standing in the Muslim world is slipping, a global poll showed Thursday. The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project found that overall opinion of Obama remains broadly positive in most non-Muslim nations.
The survey of 24,000 people in 22 nations conducted April 7 to May 8 showed a largely favorable view of the United States for a second year, in sharp contrast to perceptions of America under former president George W. Bush.
When asked whether the US president would "do the right thing" in world affairs, 87 percent in France, 90 percent in Germany and 84 percent in Britain expressed confidence in Obama.
Those figures were down slightly from last year, but compared with Bush's rating of 13, 14 and 16 percent respectively in the European nations.
But among Americans, confidence in Obama slipped to 65 percent from 74 percent in 2009.
The poll showed Obama is more popular than French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in most of the 22 nations polled, including their own.
"Publics worldwide continue to have more confidence in US President Barack Obama's ability to handle world affairs than in the abilities of key European leaders," the Pew Research Center poll said.
"Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose leadership skills are well-regarded by publics throughout much of Western Europe, does not match Obama's popularity."
In many countries around the world, confidence in Obama is high, the poll showed: 76 percent in Japan, 75 percent in South Korea, 73 percent in India and 67 percent in Indonesia. In Africa, the confidence levels were 84 percent in Nigeria and 95 percent in Kenya.
But in Russia, President Dmitri Medvedev gets a far more favorable rating than Obama -- by 33 percentage points.
In many Muslin nations aside from Indonesia, confidence in Obama and the image of the United States was weak or slipping.
"Publics of other largely Muslim countries (outside Indonesia) continue to hold overwhelmingly negative views of the US," the report said.
"In both Turkey and Pakistan -- where ratings for the US have been consistently low in recent years -- only 17 percent hold a positive opinion" of the United States.
"In Egypt, America's favorability rating dropped from 27 percent to 17 percent -- the lowest percentage observed in any of the Pew Global Attitudes surveys conducted in that country since 2006."
In Pakistan, only eight percent said Obama would "do the right thing" in world affairs, down from 13 percent a year earlier.
Closer to home, the view of the US and its president has slipped markedly in response to Arizona's enactment of a law aimed at giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally.
Just 44 percent of Mexicans gave the US a favorable rating following the signing of the bill, compared with 62
