Obama in Berlin

When Barack Obama speaks today at Berlin's Victory Column, he addresses a German public down on the United States but hopeful the presumptive Democratic nominee would improve the important transatlantic relationship.

Americans too peg Obama as the contender who would do more to improve the image of the U.S. abroad, giving him a better than 2 to 1 advantage over rival John McCain on the issue in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

In that poll, 82 percent of Americans said that the U.S.'s international prestige had declined under George W. Bush, and the public opinion in Germany is case-in-point.

In the most recent Pew Global Attitudes poll, just 31 percent of Germans expressed positive views of the U.S., down from 78 percent in 1999-2000 and 60 percent in 2002, before the start of the Iraq war. Just 14 percent said they have confidence in Bush to do the right thing regarding world affairs. But it is not only the president; nearly three-quarters of Germans said the sputtering U.S. economy is having a negative impact on their fortunes.

About two-thirds of Germans in the Pew poll said they expect U.S. foreign policy to change for the better after the upcoming election. More than a half are closely following the election. And among those paying attention, 82 percent said they have confidence in Obama "to do the right thing regarding world affairs," just 33 percent said so of McCain.

A new Gallup poll of Germans found that 62 percent would rather see Obama win the election.

Among the American public, those under age 30 give Obama a greater than 3 to 1 edge as the candidate who would do more to improve America's image abroad, according to the Post-ABC poll. Those aged 65 and up divide about evenly on the topic. Political independents favor Obama by a 35-point margin, and even about a third of Republicans favor Obama over McCain as the one to repair the U.S. image abroad. A quarter of McCain supporters and 42 percent of conservatives said Obama, if elected, would do more.

Regardless of who you may support, who do you think would do more to improve America's image abroad? (from July Post-ABC national poll)

                            Both     
          Obama   McCain   (vol.)   Neither 
7/13/08    62       30        2	     3

                            Both     
          Obama   McCain   (vol.)   Neither   
18-29      72       22        *	     2
30-39      75       17        3	     4
40-49      61       32        *	     4
50-64      57       34        *	     3
65+        47       44        3	     3

            Obama   McCain   (vol.) Neither   
Liberal       88       9        *      1       
Moderate      68      23        3      5   
Conservative  42      50        2      3

Democrat      81      15        2      2
Republican    34      58        1      2
Independent   63      28        2      5