…who would vote for whom, and why? Gallup’s World Poll, which tracks the views of 95% of the world’s population on a variety of economic and social behaviors, has posted its findings on who the rest of the world would prefer as the next U.S. President. Interestingly, Barak Obama and undecided led John McCain in virtually every country.

Perhaps even more interestingly, as highlighted by Garr Reynolds in one of my favorite blogs, Presentation Zen, how strongly many countries feel appears to be pretty closely correlated to how much they believe the election will affect them.

Some have argued on Reynolds’ blog that the U.S. should lead, that we shouldn’t care what other countries think, or that those in other countries won’t have our best interests at heart. I think this view reflects a lack of understanding of what leadership is about. And in an era when world opinion of the U.S., and its actual influence, are at historic lows, having a leader the rest of the world views favorably (or even just neutrally) can’t hurt.