The Economist set up a Global Electoral College and online poll to see which countries favor which candidate for U.S. president on Tuesday. The results skew heavily in favor of Barack Obama, with McCain leading in just Iraq, Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cuba. It’s a tie in Burma. Not enough votes were received for locales such as Madagascar and Suriname. Of course, their results are shaped by the ideology of Economist readership, as the U.S. shows Obama with 81 percent of votes, and we know that’s not going to happen on Election Day.

Voice of America has a roundup on global interest in the U.S. election, and references the Economist poll:

“Political analyst, Robin Sheppard, says the findings are revealing.


‘There is an enormous, almost insatiable appetite for Barack Obama to win this election,’ Sheppard said. ‘Very few places on the planet are backing John McCain. If European leaders don’t physically dance in the fountains then I think, figuratively speaking, this is the reaction you will be seeing.’


But he says the love affair with Senator Obama abroad is more of a rejection of President Bush.


‘It is not so much in support of Obama, it is a reflection of the last eight years of Bush. In Europe, politics and religion are supposed to be separate and the Bush administration very much mixed up the two and that got a lot of people worried and very angry too,’ he said.


…Polls in Europe reflect these views, though surveys elsewhere – such as in Israel – show Senator McCain drawing strong support.”

When it comes down to it, though, it will just be Americans casting the deciding votes on Tuesday.

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