WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Majorities in all 10 sub-Saharan African countries Gallup has surveyed so far in 2010 continue to approve of U.S. leadership despite some declines since last year. Approval is up in most countries since the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration, with the biggest gains in Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
Despite the overall gains between 2008 and 2010, approval declined significantly in five countries or regions between 2009 and 2010. In the Somaliland region, which has one of the lowest approval ratings among those surveyed, the 16-percentage-point drop between 2009 and 2010 was the largest. Nigeria is the only country where approval increased between 2009 and 2010.
In Kenya, the homeland of U.S. President Barack Obama's father, approval of U.S. leadership remains high at 87%, but this percentage is no longer the highest overall. The six-point decline since 2009 now puts approval there below Burkina Faso and on par with Uganda and Tanzania.
Bottom Line
Many in sub-Saharan Africa continue to give U.S. leadership among the most favorable approval ratings in the world. Approval in 5 of the 10 sub-Saharan African countries surveyed is down significantly since 2009 but not enough to erase the gains seen after the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.
Explore trends in U.S. leadership approval in more than 150 countries that Gallup surveys around the world.
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Survey Methods
Results are based on face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults in each country for each year reported in this article, with the exception of the 2008 Kenya sample, which was higher (2,200 interviews). For results based on each sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error ranged from a low of ±2.6 percentage points to a high of ±5.0 percentage points.
