Seventy-two percent (72%) of U.S. voters say the United States is the best nation in the world, despite the country’s economic woes and criticism of American foreign policy from abroad.

But just 28% think other nations like America, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Sunday night. Half of voters (50%) say other nations dislike the United States.

This criticism has prompted strong support for Barack Obama from people in other countries, but 37% of U.S. voters say world opinion like this makes them less likely to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. Thirty percent (30%) say positive world opinion makes them more likely to vote for Obama, and 31% say it has no impact on their vote (see crosstabs).

While 91% of Republicans say the United States is the world’s best nation, just 60% of Democrats feel that way. Twenty-one percent (21%) of Democratic voters say America is not the best, and nearly as many (20%) are undecided. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of unaffiliated voters feel America is the best, while 14% disagree.

Only 56% of likely Obama voters believe the United States is the best nation in the world, compared to 92% of likely McCain voters.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of voters overall say America is held to a higher standard by other countries in the world. Only 12% believe the United States is not held to a higher standard.

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In a survey in mid-September, before the congressional debate on a need for an economic bailout bill, just 29% of voters said the United States has the best economy in the world, and 50% said it did not.

Voting Americans are evenly divided as to whether the nation’s best days lie ahead or in the past. Still, the current results are among the most optimistic of the past two years.

U.S. consumer and investor confidence have both fallen since congressional approval of the economic bailout legislation on Friday.

Over 60% of Americans now rate the U.S. economy as poor.

In recent years, America has been the target of strong, often violent, protest in many parts of the world, in large part because of the war in Iraq and U.S. opposition to a U.N. initiative on global warming. President Bush and others worry that the latter will severely curtail the U.S. economy while not restricting major emerging rivals like China and India.

Surveys show, however, that America is still the place that many people from other countries would like to move to.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of voters believe that membership in the United Nations is good for America, while just 20% disagree.

Men by an 11-point edge say world opinion in support of Obama makes them less likely to vote for him. Women agree but by only a three-point margin. In both cases, nearly a third say it has no impact on their vote.

Despite the economic bad news domestically, a slightly higher percentage of investors (40%) say Obama’s high ratings abroad make them more likely not to vote for him.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.