Indians are pro-US?

Despite protests and anger at Bush visit to India, the urban India views Bush and his country, the sole superpower, US, a safe heaven. The Pew Global Attitudes survey once more points out Indian inclination towards Bush. By the way, this survey does not cover the Indian poors, who are indifferent to Bush and USA. Let's see some of the survey reports and statistically analyse how much favour does Indian pay to USA. Read the original article at the YaleGlobal site.

" Across a range of measures, Indian public opinion is consistently pro-American. The 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey found that about seven-in-ten Indians (71%) have a favorable view of the United States. Of the 17 countries polled in the survey, only Americans themselves hold a more favorable view of their country. And while U.S. favorability ratings have plunged in many countries, Indians are significantly more positive about the United States now than they were in the summer of 2002, when 54% gave the U.S. favorable marks.
Indians also have a strongly positive impression of the American people - 71% have a favorable opinion of Americans, up from 58% in 2002. Moreover, Indians tend to associate Americans with positive character traits, and generally do not associate Americans with negative characteristics. Eight-in-ten (81%) Indians consider Americans hardworking, and 86% - the highest percentage of any country surveyed, including the U.S. itself - say Americans are inventive. Fewer (58%) regard Americans as honest, but even among U.S. respondents, Americans receive mediocre marks for truthfulness (63%). Meanwhile, Indians are among the least likely to associate Americans with negative traits such as greed, violence, rudeness, and immorality."

The Figure beside points to the fact that after the Americans, it's the Indians who are having the positive view of the USA. The negative side of the ladder are Pakistan, Jordan and Turkey, who are increasingly getting away from USA.














The Indians have more confident on war-monger Bush. They are just below US itself on the ladder. Interestingly, in both of these tables, the sequence is almost the same, i.e., people who view US positively, also view Bush as positive. However, this is sad that the view of the US has been aligned with their President. The other US achievements, like globalization efforts, and knowledge based industries are been ignored completely.










Interestingly, the US foreign policy, is being viewed more positively even in the negative-US minded countries like China and Pakistan. However, as it goes on all along, Indians have liked it as well.
















Indians have given Bush a pat on his back in the case of removing Saddam from his seat. This shows growing Indian concern over Middle-East funding of the extremist elements inside their own country.















But the world-view where US found themselves almost alone, is the 'sole' superpower status. Overcoming the China-factor, Indians responded that they want another superpower in place to counter US hegemony. May be the legacy of the Soviets in the cold war era are still there in Indian minds, or might be every Indian as aspiring for India to be the next superpower after USA.

" Still, there is less support among Indians for China becoming as militarily powerful as the United States. Indians are split over this issue, with 45% saying that if China became America's military equal this would be a good thing and 45% saying this would be a bad development. Here, India occupies something of a middle ground between European countries, which generally oppose the potential military rise of China, and majority Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia, and Turkey, which generally welcome the idea of a strong China that could rival U.S. military strength."