Why "If The World Could Vote" Matters and What It Means for the USA?

On June 10th we launched IfTheWorldCouldVote.com, a website where people of the world gets an opportunity to vote for the next president of the United States. As of today we've got 755,206 votes from 211 countries world wide. That's almost every single country in the world.

 

And the world has spoken. With the exception of two countries, Albania and Macedonia, the world votes for Barack Obama. The results are not to be mistaken, 86.9% of the world votes for Barack Obama and 13.1% votes for John McCain.

But it's an internet poll, it's not like it's scientific. Maybe. But it's not to be ignored either. While it may not reflect the view of the entire worlds population, it does reflect the views of all Internet users of the world. You want to know what the results where 500.000 votes ago? Just about the same. Even though hundreds of thousands of votes have been added from hundreds of countries, the results have been very stable, swinging less then 1%. Other Internet polls have been showing very similar results, though none of them is anywhere near our poll in size.

Why does the world care?
Because the president of the United States has a significant impact economically and politically on the whole world. It makes a difference whether it is Barack Obama or John McCain. Also for the people out there.

What do the result mean for the US?
This is important. The world wants Barack Obama, not John McCain. And now I'll explain why. It's not because the world wants a weaker US so that the world can win and the US lose. The world doesn't work that way. The world wants a leader that is willing to cooperate with other nations. That is likely to reach agreements with other countries. That is more likely to do something about climate changes. That is more likely to create more international stability and peace instead of moving us closer to a new cold war like Bush has done. And the world is unanimous on this (except Macedonia and that is because Obama took a stand with Greece on the Macedonian name dispute, not because McCain is popular there).

America used to be a symbol of democracy, of freedom, of the good in the world. That image has been shattered under the Bush administration. What IfTheWorldCouldVote.com is showing you is that John McCain will not be able to repair the damage done to brand America internationally. John McCain will not be able to restore the good stand America had in the world. But Obama can!

The world has faith in Obama, and that he will again revive the America we used to look up to.

Today is the big day. If you can vote, vote for a better world. A better world for Americans and a better world for the rest of us.

Hjörtur

ps. what do I know? Though I may not be an established expert in this, I do have my masters degree in Political Science, specializing in "Diplomacy, conflict resolution and peace negotiations". I also used to run a company specializing in Internet surveys so I know a thing or to about how to make them as accurate as possible.

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Comments

[Dan Porter]

Well written. McCain will be just another Bush. We need change!

[Bragi Thor]

These elections will be one of the most important in US history, I hope that the US will do the right thing a vote for change for the better!

[purposeinc]

The one thing that I think Mr. Obama will do for our country is to get the rest of the world being friends with the U.S. again.

I wish Ron Paul had won. We have a great constitution when we follow it. :)

It is your responsibility to get the Finnish Economy rolling again, right? :)

What are housing prices in Finland like now?

Much Love,
dk

[Maverick]

John McCain is the only thing that will keep our country from becoming a communist country like Obama wants. We don't care what the world thinks... we are the greatest country in the world because we don't listen to what other countries think!!!

[Robin in the USA]

This vote is historic - not just because we may elect a black man or a white woman to one of the highest offices in the land.

Believe it or not, there are many in the USA who recognize our responsibility to the rest of the world and know we've not done a good job of working with other nations. I truly hope my fellow Americans and I can demonstrate we are not as stupid and arrogant as many think.

BTW, I'm not a liberal or Democrat. I've voted Republican more often than Democrat, but in this case, we have to change our direction and recognize the Republican "worldview" is sadly distorted. We have to change before it's too late.

[jst2se]

Do we really think that the world has OUR best interest in mind?

[Johan]

Not that I don't agree with some of the points on "what the world wants", but who made you our spokesperson?

Since this website of yours is becoming increasingly popular, it should be your duty to mention that this is just your opinion.

Of course you don't have to do that.

[Who would the World Elect]

Did you see http://www.WhoWouldTheWorldElect.com before you did the site?

And it's AMAZING the number of people that have voted on your site.

Excellent work. You are one skillful marketer!

[Hjörtur Smárason]

@dk Finnish economy? Don't know. But the Icelandic economy is finish-ed ;) On a serious level, housing prices are about half of what they were few months ago (due to currency) and are expected to fall up to further 50%. Personally, I don't think it will be that bad, but if you'd like me to find you a nice holiday partment in Reykjavik, one of the hottest night life spots in Europe, just let me know. Even the beer is cheap at the moment ;)

@maverick lol

@robin We know you're not all that bad. We'll see how many of you are today ;)

@jst2se Why do so many Americans believe that the best for the world can somehow not be the same as what is best for the US? Isn't US a part of the world?

@johan We're not talking about my opinion. We're talking about the opinion of close to a million people world wide. The opinion of hte world is clear but my writing about what it means, is clearly my analysis and interpretation of the results.

@whotheworldwouldelect Thanks for the kind words. I didn't see your site until after we started ours, but I have visited it a few times. We soon realized when we started that we were not the only one nor the first, but we've managed to become the biggest and most widespread.