WASHINGTON, Oct 7: If the whole world could vote for US president, Democrat Barack Obama would win by a landslide, according to polls conducted in 17 countries by Reader’s Digest magazine.

Respondents voted “overwhelmingly” for Obama in every country polled except the United States, where Republican John McCain was preferred by a narrow margin, the magazine said in an article posted on its website on Monday.

The surveys, with about 1,000 participants in every country, were conducted several months ago, from June 2 to July 7, for an article in the November issue of the magazine. “It’s Obama by a landslide — except in the country in which he’s actually running for president,” said John Fredricks, polling director for the magazine.

What is most striking is the margin of his support. Obama was preferred by more than 90 per cent in the Netherlands, by 85 per cent in Germany and by similar margins on all six continents, the magazine said. Polling was conducted in Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United States.

An interactive reader survey by The Economist delivered another resounding victory for Obama.

The Economist has created a “Global Electoral College” in which readers in all of the world’s 195 countries can cast votes on its website. Mirroring the US system, every country is allocated a number of votes in proportion to its population.

In the US electoral college, a candidate needs to win 270 of a total 538 votes to win the White House.

“With over 6.5 billion people (worldwide) enfranchised, the result is a much larger electoral college of 9,875 votes,” the Economist said of its global version.

“But rally your countrymen — a nation must have at least ten individual votes in order to have its electoral college votes counted,” it said.

Voting at www.economist.com/vote2008 will conclude on Nov 1 at midnight London time. So far, Obama had tallied 8,455 global votes and McCain 16 — from Andorra, Georgia and Macedonia.

—AFP