The US image in Western Europe remains high, while Muslim nations still have a negative view of the United States and are sceptical about President Barack Obama's policies, dpa quoted a survey as releasing today. The favorability rating for the United States has climbed since Obama replaced the unpopular George W Bush as president, notably in Germany and France, where a respective 63 and 73 per cent of those polled expressed a positive view, the annual Pew Research Centre survey showed. Those numbers are about the same as last year and well above the low marks that were stuck in the 30 percentile in 2007. The poll showed that 88 per cent of Germans and 84 per cent of French support Obama's policies. But Obama's popularity in Europe does not translate to the Muslim world. In Egypt the percentage of Muslims expressing confidence in Obama fell from 41 per cent last year to 31 per cent, while in Turkey it fell from 33 per cent to 23 per cent. In the 2009 survey, only 13 per cent of Pakistani Muslims were confident in Obama. That figure fell to 8 per cent this year. Overall, the US image fell in Egypt and Jordan. Thirty three per cent of Egyptians held a positive view of the United States, dropping from 42 per cent, and in Jordan the image slumped from 31 per cent to 26 per cent. There were also some improvements in Russia, where 57 per cent expressed a positive view - up from 44 per cent in 2009. The Chinese also gave the US higher marks, with 58 per cent having a positive over 47 per cent last year. The United States remained popular in India, although that number slipped from 76 per cent to 66 per cent.
