Americans Love Canada, Poll Shows - East Idaho News
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Americans Love Canada, Poll Shows

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Getty 120711 USACanada?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1329514707108Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — In the eyes of Americans it’s hard to be more popular than Canada. In Gallup’s annual favorability ratings, no country scored better than America’s neighbor to the north.

“A whopping 96% of Americans have a generally favorable view of Canada, while 3% view it unfavorably,” Gallup reported on its website. “The favorable rating is the highest Gallup has measured for any country in more than 20 years of asking this question.”

Rounding out the top three most favorable countries were Australia and Great Britain, with 93 and 90 percent of Americans having a high opinion of each, respectively.

Bringing up the rear were Afghanistan (14 percent), North Korea (13 percent) and Iran (10 percent).

“Iran is the least well-regarded country measure this year, with 10% of Americans viewing it favorably and 87% unfavorably.” Gallup wrote. “Americans’ favorable ratings of Iran have been consistently low since Gallup’s first measurement with this question in 1989, mostly registering around 10% but with a range from 5% (in1989) to 17% (in 2004).”

Iran may be perennially unpopular, but only China suffered a substantial decline in favorability, falling from 47 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2012.

While China’s favorability waned in the eyes of Americans, Cuba and Egypt saw the biggest increase year to year, each improving by seven percentage points. Cuba went from 30 to 37 percent, and Egypt climbed from 40 to 47 percent.

2012 Favorability Toward Countries:

1. Canada – 96%
2. Australia – 93%
3. Great Britain – 90%
4. Germany – 86%
5. Japan – 83%
6. France – 75%
7. India – 75%
8. Israel – 71%
9. Greece – 62%
10. Mexico – 51%
11. Russia – 50%
12. Egypt – 47%
13. Saudi Arabia – 42%
14. China – 41%
15. Cuba – 37%
16. Libya – 25%
17. Iraq – 24%
18. The Palestinian Authority – 19%
19. Syria – 17%
20. Pakistan -15%
21. Afghanistan – 14%
22. North Korea – 13%
23. Iran – 10%

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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