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He won, and the word "phew" trended worldwide on Twitter. Despite a hard-fought campaign in the United States, there was never any contest overseas.

Gone are the days when President Barack Obama was seen as a youthful, messianic figure capable of magically curing the world's woes. But he remains widely popular, and his triumph reassured many who feared an abrupt change in U.S. policy could spell trouble.

Even Tom McGrath, president of Republicans Abroad France, conceded: "It's clear that if they could vote, Europe would vote 80 percent for Obama."

Part of the reason is continuity. Challenger Mitt Romney is a little-known figure internationally with scant foreign policy experience, while Obama was seen - even by most critics - as a steady hand following a predictable course.

If he hasn't brought peace to the world's fire zones, or done much to slow climate change, or sparked global economic growth, he is credited at least with having started no new wars, and having tried to heal relations with the Muslim world even while aggressively pursuing al-Qaida and its affiliates.

"I think it is good that Obama won," said Pawel Kukiela, a 30-year-old company consultant in Poland, one of the few countries around the world where Romney has sizeable support. "He has a good program and I think it will be much better for Obama to continue what he has started."

A BBC survey during the run-up to the election found remarkable support for an Obama second term. More than 21,000 people in 21 countries were questioned in July, August and September, with residents in all but one country backing Obama. Only Pakistan, where Obama's heavy reliance on drone strikes has been unpopular, preferred Romney.

An Iraqi army officer in the capital, Baghdad, praised Obama for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and planning to do the same in Afghanistan.

"These show that Obama differs from other American presidents in his foreign policy," said the officer, who gave his name as Abu Hussein.

The rest is here:
Global candidate: Obama was world's clear choice