Oct 31, 7:26 PM EDT

Poll: Latin America indifferent over US election

By FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Two in three Latin Americans either don't care who wins Tuesday's U.S. presidential election or don't think the outcome will matter, according to a survey in 18 countries.

The poll found that 29 percent of Latin Americans think a victory by Democrat Barack Obama would be better for the region while 8 percent prefer Republican John McCain.

The rest essentially don't know or don't care: 29 percent did not believe either candidate was a superior choice for Latin America, while 31 percent said they did not know.

The poll by Chile-based Latinobarometro also found that one in three Latin Americans think Washington will not pay more attention to the region, regardless of who wins.

"They believe that the U.S. election will not produce any change in Latin America," said Marta Lagos, Latinobarometro's director. "The most important finding, I think, is that the United States is losing power in Latin America."

As for which candidate would be best for Latin America, Obama had the most support in the Dominican Republic, with 52 percent, followed by Costa Rica with 43 percent, Brazil and Uruguay with 41 percent each and Argentina with 36 percent.

McCain was strongest in Colombia, Washington's closest ally in the region, with 19 percent, followed by El Salvador with 16 percent.

The face-to-face poll, conducted between Sept. 5 and Oct. 5, sampled 1,000 to 1,200 people per country and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The survey also gauged familiarity with the U.S. election: The authors called it "the most emblematic the United States has had in its contemporary history," but 57 percent of Latin Americans surveyed had little or no knowledge of it.

Lagos said she was intrigued that only 41 percent of Venezuelans said they had knowledge of the election, given that their leftist president, Hugo Chavez, is constantly trying to demonize the U.S. government.

"I find it very interesting because Chavez is attacking a country about which his people know little," she said

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