The polls were commissioned by newspapers in each of the countries, including the Guardian, France's le Monde, Spain's El Pais and Japan's Asahi Shimbun. Each was carried out by a local polling firm; the Guardian's by pollsters ICM.
Voters in eight US allies, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain and South Korea, all said by wide margins that they would prefer to see the Massachusetts senator beat the incumbent US president in the election on 2nd Nov.
Of the 10 countries that participated, only two, Israel and Russia, preferred Bush. Israelis preferred Bush by a margin of 50 -24 %. On an average, voters in the 10 countries favoured Kerry by a margin of 54 %- 27 %.
Predictably, France, which strongly opposed the war in Iraq, was the most pro-Kerry country. The senator was favoured by 72 %, against 16 % for Bush.
Kerry also won in Washington's closest battlefield ally Britain, by a margin of 50-22%, Mexicans prefer Kerry to Bush 55-20, Spaniards 58-13, and Australians 54-28.
The Guardian, a left-leaning newspaper that opposed the war in Iraq, said the results showed Bush ''has squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world since 11th Sept. ''.
By wide margins, voters in all the countries but Israel and South Korea said their opinions of the United States had worsened over the past two or three years. In all, 57 % said their view of America had worsened, while only 20 % said it improved.
Yet despite their worsening opinion of America, 68 % of those polled still said they like Americans as people. Respondents said they still believe US democracy is an example to other nations, by a margin of 52 - 42.
Asked if they believe the war in Iraq has ''contributed to the fight against terrorism around the world'', Britons and Canadians said yes and South Koreans were undecided, but the French, Spaniards, Japanese and Mexicans replied in the negative by wide margins.
