Perceptions of Influence

BBC.com has an item up detailing the results of a poll that asked more than 28,000 people, from 27 different nations, about their perceptions of the influence various countries have. The precise words people were asked to respond to were: "Please tell me if you think each of the following are having a mainly positive or mainly negative influence on the world." The specific countries mentioned were the United States, Venezuela, Iran, Japan, North Korea, Canada, Israel, France, Great Britain, China, India, and Russia (The European Union as a whole was also included). The poll was conducted between last November and this January.

Can't say the results are all that surprising, but I'm not a great believer in polls, since the questions and answers are often simplistic and allow little room for nuanced thought, which exists in many places in far greater quantities than might be assumed. But 28,000 people is quite a large sampling, and 27 countries, from different regions, with different religions, quite a wide scope. I'd be curious to know how those reading this, whoever and wherever you are, feel about the results, if they are surprising, predictable, of concern, important, telling, trivial...