All the signs are the presidential election is set to be a close-run thing. So just why is Barack Obama overwhelmingly more popular than Mitt Romney in Britain and the rest of Europe? Chris Parsons from Yahoo! UK News takes a look.



While the outcome of the presidential election will ultimately be decided by the American public, both Obama and Romney will be keeping one eye on the world view in the lead-up to November 6.



Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's election campaigning may have been curtailed by Superstorm Sandy this week, but the two candidates are still fully aware they're involved in one of the closest presidential races in recent history.



The vote between the incumbent president and the Republican candidate remains on a knife edge with six days until the polls open, despite the bluster from both sides deriding their opponent's respective campaigns.



Before Superstorm Sandy hit, the two men had spent days travelling around the U.S. in a last-ditch attempt to win votes in key battleground states.



And while the outcome of the presidential election will ultimately be decided by the American public, both Obama and Romney will be keeping one eye on the world view in the lead-up to November 6.



Among the key leadership issues - the economy, healthcare and defence - foreign policy remains important to any presidential campaign.



And the success of a president's foreign policy depends in many ways on how it is perceived outside of the U.S.



So how are the two candidates viewed outside of north America - in particular, how is their battle being seen in the UK and continental Europe?

































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Having swept to power in a blaze of positivity and enthusiasm in 2008, Obama appears to have maintained his support in the UK, if polls from Britain are anything to go by.



A recent online public opinion survey by polling experts Angus Reid claimed Britons favour the current president over Romney by an overwhelming ratio of 10:1.



The same study showed that just over half (52%) of Britons believed Obama had met their expectations of what he would achieve in his first term, while fewer than one in five (18%) said the President had failed to impress.



Obama's popularity in the UK seems to reflect a general trend across the continent; an AFP report recently revealed the President's European approval rating stood at a healthy 71%.



Conversely, Romney has struggled for widespread popularity in Britain ever since his visit to the UK in July.



Dubbed the 'European Disaster Tour', Romney publicly questioned London's readiness to hold the Olympic Games.



His comments hugely affected his standing among the British public and undermined his attempts to appear presidential.





Related: Get the latest news on the US elections





The Mormon Republican leader was something of an unknown quantity in the UK at the time, but in questioning Britain's capability to host what turned out to be an extremely successful Olympics, Romney lost the respect of the British - to the point where he was deemed by some as less popular than Sarah Palin.



Dr Robert Watt, a lecturer from the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Birmingham University in the UK, told us Romney "alienated himself from pretty much everybody" on the tour.



Other academics though insist Romney has regained ground through his assured performances in the presidential debates - but he still trails Obama considerably in the UK approval stakes.



Dr Watt added many Britons liken Romney's ideology to the religious fundementalism and militarisation which characterised George W Bush's presidency; a comparison which will never play well in the UK.













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