How the World Views the U.S. Presidential Election

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

As the primary field narrows, foreign politicians and business leaders are watching the U.S. presidential election closely. One of the candidates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is well-known to many of them, a fact that cuts both ways. 

Some like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair have welcomed her to the field, while others like Russian Foreign Policy Analyst Fyodor Lukyanov have called her the “worst option” from the Russian perspective. 

Russian President Vladmir Putin has been more complementary of the Republican front runner, Donald Trump, telling reporters in December that he was “very talented.”

But Trump has drawn condemnation from lawmakers in Israel and the United Kingdom for his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. British Prime Minister David Cameron called those remarks “divisive, stupid, and wrong.” For its part, a German magazine, Der Spiegel, published a photo of Trump on its January cover with the caption, “Madness: America’s Agitator Donald Trump.” 

Edward Lucas, senior editor at The Economist, discusses global views on the U.S. presidential election, from Egypt to Mexico and China.