Ipsos

Attention: News Editor, World News Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - June 3, 2008) - Washington, DC - A new global Ipsos poll of the world's most engaged citizens across 22 countries, conducted for Al Jazeera English Network, finds that most citizens appear to be tuned in to the race for the U.S. Presidency, with a majority of global citizens being 'aware' of the three major contenders for the presidency: Hillary Clinton (92%), Barack Obama (82%) and John McCain (62%).

In fact, much of the world appears to be watching the race in the U.S., with eight in ten (80%) of these 'aware' global citizens indicating that they're following the presidential election 'closely' (15% very/65% somewhat). Just two in ten (20%) of those who are aware of all three candidates say that they're 'not following' the presidential election 'closely at all'.

Among those who are 'aware' of all three candidates, a majority (55%) would most like to see Barack Obama as the next President of the United States, placing him well ahead of his fellow Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who is receiving 31% of the vote. Apparently, the global appetite for another Republican is not strong, with only 14% indicating that they would most like to see John McCain as the next U.S. President.

Global opinion appears to differ markedly from opinion within the United States, however. When considering which of the three candidates they would most like to see as President of the United States, 41% of Americans indicate they most prefer John McCain (compared to 14% globally), 33% would most like to see Barack Obama as President (55% globally), and 26% would most like to see Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States (31% globally).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Public Affairs poll conducted on behalf of the Al Jazeera English Network via Ipsos Global@dvisor. The Ipsos Global@dvisor-Reputation Risk Identifier is a bi-annual survey specifically constructed to understand the reputation risk environment critical to protecting the goodwill and equity-both financial and public-of corporate brands and operations. The field window was April 15 through May 22, 2008. It surveyed 22,605 "broad elites, Internet Intelligaged, and digital information opinion leaders about corporate, social & political, foreign investment, expansion, the environment, and other critical business risk affecting the business landscape", via a minimum of 1,000 interviews each in 22 countries across the Ipsos global online panel access network, with results made available through the Global@dvisor research service digital platform within 20 days of initiating the global survey. The margin of error per country is +/-3.1, 19 times out of 20.

All Ipsos News Releases are available online at: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/


IN: ECONOMY, INTERNATIONAL, POLITICS