US, Iran top 145;negative image146; list

Israel, Iran and the United States are the countries with the most negative image in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released on Tuesday.

The survey for the BBC8217;s World Service asked more than 28,000 people to rate 12 countries 8212; Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the US and Venezuela 8212; as having a positive or negative influence on the world. Israel was viewed negatively by 56 per cent of respondents and positively by 17 per cent; for Iran, the figures were 54 per cent and 18 percent. The US had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 per cent citing it as a bad influence and 30 per cent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 per cent and positively by 19 per cent.

Canada had the most positive rating in the survey of 28,389 people in 27 countries, with 54 per cent viewing it positively and 14 per cent negatively. It was followed by Japan and France.

Respondents were also asked their views of the 25-member European Union; 53 per cent saw it as positive and 19 per cent as negative.

Britain, China and India were viewed more positively than negatively, while Russia had more negative than positive responses. Opinion on Venezuela was evenly split.

8220;It appears that people around the world tend to look negatively on countries whose profile is marked by the pursuit of military power,8221; said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland8217;s Programme on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the research along with pollster GlobeScan.