2008 Presidential Hopefuls and Military Spending

In November we will have an opportunity to vote for president. These hopefuls have made statements regarding troop levels. Click here to see what they want to do.

Mitt Romney dropped out of the race this past week but his military spending comments remain on the link for reference.

Canadian Poll and USA

I heard some disturbing news about our wonderful neighbors to the north---Canada. There is a current Canadian poll that indicated:

U.S. cited as negative force in the world

While Canadians see the United States as important, when asked what countries stand out as being a negative force in the world, 52 per cent of respondents named the U.S.

The next most common answers were Iran (22 per cent), Iraq (19 per cent) and China (13 per cent).

"It's not necessarily a sign of anti-Americanism, but a concern about the direction the country is going," Neuman said.

He said the overall opinion of the United States was much higher in surveys done in the 1980s, but that opinion started to drop in 2001, hitting an all-time low in 2006.

Neuman said other studies have shown that people's opinions of the U.S. are negative because they are uncomfortable with the country's foreign policy, including the invasion of Iraq. They also cite discomfort with U.S. President George W. Bush, who took office in January 2001.

"I think the fact that Canadians pay so much attention to the U.S. election is a sign that they really care about the United States, a sign that they want it to get back to where it was before," Neuman said.

The big question is will our next president make significant changes to our foreign police? To read more about what Canadians think click here.