Dylan Martinez / Reuters, file

Simon Nash, his wife Maria and their daughter Sarah pose inside their home in Preston, northern England, on September 24.

LONDON - A distant relative of Mitt Romney in England found himself cheering for the GOP candidate on election night – despite disagreeing with him politically.

Simon Nash, known as the “Deepdale Duck” in his role as mascot for Lancashire-based professional soccer team Preston North End, discovered that his 32-year-old wife Maria is Romney’s fourth cousin twice removed as he researched their family history.

While she and their 13-year-old daughter Sarah were largely uninterested in the U.S. election, Nash stayed up until Barack Obama was declared the winner by NBC News.

As he listened to the coverage, he found himself rooting for Romney.

“In the end I wanted him to win … for the novelty value, so I could go around boasting my missus (wife) is cousin to the president,” he said.

“I only discovered I was supporting Romney in the middle of the night. I think when it was starting to look like Obama was going to win it, I wanted our man to win then, but it was too late,” he added.

Nash admitted he didn’t think much of Romney’s policies.

“I think he’s sort of a dinosaur … a bit prehistoric,” he said, referring to Romney’s tax-cutting pitch to the electorate.

“He has no feeling for the normal man in the street. I think he’s that far removed from if you like the average Joe. I think it would have been horrendous (if Romney had won),” Nash added.

PhotoBlog: Mitt Romney's English roots surprise long-lost cousins

His wife Maria, who told NBC News Tuesday she was feeling unwell, was still sleeping early Wednesday.

Simon Nash told NBC News he had woken her at 6 a.m. local time with the news of the result.

“Oh right, OK,” Nash said his wife told him before she went back to sleep. “That’s how excited she was – or wasn’t.”

On Tuesday, Maria Nash said she had been “quite surprised to be honest” to discover they were related to Romney.

She stressed she was “not sure” about the election race, but said of Romney “I don’t think he’d make a great president” while Obama “seems all right.”

Mexican cousins mourn defeat
However, Romney’s Mexican cousins mourned his election defeat as a lost opportunity to pull the U.S. economy out of the doldrums. They had high hopes their clan's most famous son would win the keys to the White House, create jobs and boost trade.

"I'm just feeling very, very sad," Virginia Romney -- born on the same day as Romney in 1947, and is married to his Mexican second cousin Kent -- told Reuters.

"Just to let him slip away from being president of the United States is a real tragedy for the U.S. because he could have given the country so much," the 65-year-old added. "He has been such a success in everything he has done."

Full election coverage from NBC Politics

The family's Mexican roots go back to Mitt Romney's great-grandfather Miles P. Romney, who crossed south of the border in the 1880s, like other early Mormon settlers in Mexico fleeing U.S. marshals who were seeking to arrest him for practicing polygamy. 

Leighton Romney, another of Romney's second cousins in Chihuahua, told Reuters the Republican's hopes had been buried because his party had failed to connect with voters on issues like immigration and foreign policy. 

"As poorly as the economy is doing and as bad a record as Obama has, in some way the Republicans weren't able to take advantage of it," the 53-year-old businessman added. "Mitt ran a good campaign. And he did a lot for his party." 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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• Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
• In costliest-ever Senate race, Warren beats Brown for Mass. seat
• Maine's Harley-riding King vowed to 'shake up' D.C.
• Republicans easily maintain control of House
• Colorado, Washington approve recreational marijuana use
• Pence in as governor of Indiana; Hassan wins in N.H.
• Majority of voters see American on wrong track

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News analysis

Updated at 8:22 a.m. ET on Nov. 5: Barack Obama's election to the White House in 2008 captured the world's imagination. 

His victory was heralded with a front-page headline proclaiming "The Day America Became a Little Bit Cool Again" in the U.K's Metro newspaper, Kenya declared a national holiday and even usually adversarial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez hailed the "historic" event.

As part of our The World is Watching series, NBC News journalists around the world set out to see whether four years had dampened that initial enthusiasm and examined what people in other countries think a Mitt Romney administration might mean for their daily lives.

Read on to learn what we discovered from people in nations including Iran, Pakistan, Britain, Cuba, Israel and beyond.

EGYPT
In the first foreign policy speech of his presidency, Barack Obama told the audience at Cairo University to "seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." He promised to support democracy, economic development and a Palestinian state, and stated his opposition to extremism.

Today, many in Egypt – arguably the Arab world’s most influential country and its largest in terms of population –  feel that hopes raised during the speech have been dashed. 

Their disappointment hasn’t necessarily translated into immediate support for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

“I don’t prefer either (Obama or Romney),” accountant Nasr Said, 31, said.  “America has one policy.  It doesn’t matter who is elected.”

Cairo University political science professor Horeya Megahid said that many people expected too much of Obama and now feel deceived. In the wake of the Arab Spring, she feels that he is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood at the expense of liberal parties and movements.

“But we don’t expect Romney to be any better,” she said.  “I hope that if Obama wins, he can make some changes in his policy and towards his understanding of what is going on in the Middle East.”

In Egypt's elections, politics is a new family affair

Dr. Amr Darag, a Muslim Brotherhood member and former parliamentary candidate, favors Obama’s campaign promises but doubts they will be kept. 

“Obama would be more understanding of the changes that have taken place in the Middle East,” he said.  

Darag said he doubted that Romney would change policies by offering more aid to the armed Syrian opposition or support to Israel if it attacked Iran. 

“War is no game,” he said.  “During campaigning, one might talk loudly about this but in reality, policy is made by experts and advisers, not by one man.”

IRAN
Iranians inside and out of the country have learned over the decades that American decisions can have big repercussions on their country.

The Allied powers occupied Iran during World War II, forcing Reza Shah to abdicate in favor of his son. In 1952, President Harry Truman did not agree to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh. But in 1953, the CIA under Dwight D. Eisenhower helped oust the democratically elected prime minister and reinstate the Shah, arguably helping give rise to Shiite fundamentalism.

Now, what was once an important U.S. client state is a staunchly anti-Western Islamic Republic that refers to America as the "Great Satan." Fearful of Iran’s supposedly peaceful nuclear program, the West has slapped sanctions on the country. Israel, meanwhile, has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear installations.

'Our money is becoming more and more worthless every day'

Elmira, 26, knows the name of every U.S president since Richard Nixon and can recite each one’s policy towards Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.

"I think that Romney might attack Iran and that would be terrible,” the student said.  “It is true that the sanctions have hurt us but war would be much more painful.”

Further afield the diaspora also holds strong opinions.

The regime does not represent the Iranian people, said one expatriate Iranian who asked that his name not be used.

 “(Romney) will take a stronger position on Iran, maybe he will attack and get rid of the regime once and for all,” he said.

However, Mohsen Rezaee, the former head of the Revolutionary Guard and presidential candidate during Iran’s 2009 elections, told NBC News that U.S policy towards Iran was set in stone and the only difference was the path each candidate would take to get to the same goal.

CUBA
It’s unlikely that any Latin American country tracks U.S. politics more closely than the socialist island of Cuba.

“The elections are important to us,” Havana University Professor Esteban Morales said. “Almost as important as baseball,” Cuba’s national pastime, he jokingly added.

Also in this series: Despite bloodshed, Mexico is ignored during White House race

Indeed, American presidential elections are a spectator sport for many. From the moment Fidel Castro took power and immediately locked horns with Washington more than 50 years ago, the average Cuban learned to keep one eye trained north. The official position from the government has been to blame the U.S. trade embargo for much of the island’s economic hardship.

“Of course I’m paying attention to the U.S. elections,” said Havana cabbie Omar Martin, 46. “The outcome will have an impact here.”

Roberto Leon / NBC News

Havana cabbie Omar Martin

While not living up to every promise he made, Obama has made good on a pledge that restored the right of Cuban Americans to travel to see family and to transfer money to the island.

Miriam Leiva, a member of the political opposition, believes Obama has gained popularity because of the “bridges he built with the Cuban people.”

Roberto Leon / NBC News

Mirian Leiva

“People believe Obama promotes contact between the two countries,” Leiva said. “Romney would revert to a policy of confrontation with the Cuban government.”

ISRAEL
Most Israeli Jews would be reassured if Romney won the U.S. presidential election – one recent survey showed most preferred the Republican to Obama by almost a three-to-one margin – feeling they had an unquestioning friend rather than a dispassionate critic in the White House.

“I hope that Obama doesn’t win because he is not good for Israelis,” said Daniel Sullam, a resident of Jerusalem.  “Romney is better since he sits and talks to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and listens to him.”

“If we don’t attack Iran before they attack us they will attack us with an atomic bomb, and this is not a joke and … will affect the whole world and not only the Israelis,” Sullam added.

Also in this series: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions

Obama has been accused of trying to browbeat Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians, particularly in his efforts to halt settlement-building in the occupied West Bank, and of refusing to impose red lines on Iran's atomic project.

However, the U.S. and Israel are too joined at the hip on fundamental challenges for the head to make that much difference, some experts say. Any change would probably be a question of style over substance, they say, with a Republican administration expected to follow the path already laid out by Obama.

"There is a great deal of continuity in foreign policy," said Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and member of the ruling conservative Likud party. "Things don't change overnight if a new president takes power."

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Palestinians tend to have a different take on the American presidential race, saying that the United States reflexively supports the Israel and disregards legitimate Palestinian interests.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel captured in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. But after years of talks failed to secure one many believe there is little difference between the two U.S. candidates.

“People know that the system in the U.S. doesn’t give much leeway to the candidate given the strong Israeli lobby,” said Mazin Qumsiyeh, biology professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit universities. “Candidates have to grovel at Israel’s feet to prove their candidacy.”

The American passport holder said he would not vote for either Romney or Obama.

Palestinians say that growing Israeli settlements deny them a viable contiguous state, while Israel cites historical and Biblical links to the West Bank and Jerusalem and says the future of settlements should be decided in peace talks.

While the next U.S. president will not be able to buck the U.S.’s anti-Palestinian bias, Talat Batato said he admired Obama.

“I like Obama because he defied discrimination and repression by being the first black president,” said Batato, who works at an NGO in Gaza.  “But I don’t think Americans are mature enough to keep in him for longer.”

GREAT BRITAIN
In season one of the “West Wing,” fictional British diplomat Lord John Marbury arrives in the Oval Office to advise the president. His approach toward the most powerful man in the world summed up thus: “You may have the power, but you need us British because we understand the world better than you do.”

It’s a good stereotype and it’s half-true. London continues to be a diplomatic center. And as one of America’s closest allies, the British provide an important link between the United States and the world.

Full coverage: NBCNews.com's The World is Watching series

But the reality is that Britain needs America more than the reverse. The U.S. invests more money in Britain that Europe does. And British foreign policy has been in lockstep with the U.S. for a decade. That’s why the British government is so cautious not to take sides in the general election: It knows it must work with whomever is elected.

“Insofar as U.S. elections tell us anything, it is more about the character of the next administration rather than the substance,” Michael Clarke, director general of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told NBC News.

From 2008: Londoners celebrate Obama's inauguration

While Obama appears to have no sentimental affection for the U.K., he might see Britain as useful in a more internationally focused second term.

“I think Obama might value more what the U.K. has to offer on the world stage, in a very hard-nosed way,” Clarke said.

So while on both sides of the Atlantic politicians and diplomats like to talk of the “special relationship,” a term invented by Winston Churchill, such a relationship is more important to prime ministers than presidents.  Presidents tend to choose to use it when it’s in their interests and ignore it when it isn’t. In this special relationship Britain is very much the junior partner, and she knows it.

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan has been heavily dependent on the United States since U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, so who wins Tuesday’s election matters here.

One of the world’s poorest and least-developed countries whose economy relies heavily on foreign aid and where violence against women is increasing, it is under huge pressure to gain control of its own security before the deadline for foreign troop withdrawal.

“The people who are aware, who are educated, care about the election,” said Fayazulhaq Hotak, a government worker. “They know the importance of this election and the consequences of what will happen to Afghanistan. Maybe the new president will withdraw the troops earlier.”

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

Most of the people NBC News spoke to in a crowded market in Kabul had not heard of Mitt Romney, although everyone knew who Barack Obama was.

A key concern for many Afghans, with so many insider attacks and the constant threat faced by local police and Afghan military, is whether Afghanistan will be secure after the 2014 withdrawal deadline.

“I think Obama is better for Afghanistan than Romney would be,” IT specialist Azim Fakrhi said. His biggest fear is the withdrawal of NATO troops.

Meet Afghan female rapper, colonel who defy odds

Only a government worker, Fayazulhaq Hotaq, had clear-cut views on Romney.

“We are afraid that he will suddenly withdraw troops from Afghanistan,” Hotaq said.

However, most people are too poor and preoccupied to care about the elections, said Sayed Zaman.

“They are busy earning their daily bread for their own families,” he added.

INDONESIA
There is huge support in the world’s largest Muslim country for Obama, who lived in Jakarta as a child.  Indonesians are also keenly interested in foreign policy issues, with many distrustful of the U.S. and its treatment of Muslims around the world.

“I do follow the race closely,” said Indonesian Ayu Hakim who spent more than a decade in the United States. “One thing for sure, Obama has made everything much more transparent by putting his plans, visions, goals, etc. on his website.”

Controversial Obama statue back in public view

Romney, on the other hand has not been as transparent, which reflects badly on him, Hakim said.

Benny Handoko, on the other hand, hasn’t paid as much attention to this race.

“The previous one is the most exciting U.S. election in my living memory since it's a breakthrough, a historic achievement in terms of the U.S. having the first Black president,” he said. 

“Whoever is elected won't change American international policy drastically because I think they have to deal with domestic issues more. And American isn't as important,” he added.

VENEZUELA
Oil-rich Venezuela is run by self-styled socialist Hugo Chavez, Latin America's principal anti-U.S. agitator.  While Chavez’s populist largesse has won him elections, critics complain about the country’s rundown infrastructure, food shortages and violent crime.

When asked about the U.S. election, Patricia Paredes, 63, said she was worried that Obama was too liberal.

“He changed all of his views on homosexuality and abortion just to get votes,” the Caracas resident said.  “Romney will have a stronger hand.”

Chavez wins 3rd term, vows to deepen socialist revolution

This strong hand will put Venezuela under pressure and save Venezuela from Chavez, Paredes said.

Slideshow: Hugo Chavez through the years

/

The life of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez from his rise as a lieutenant colonel after his failed coup attempt in 1992.

Launch slideshow

Jorge Pérez Valery, 24, a journalist with Globovisión, does not agree that Romney would be a better candidate but he also doesn’t pin his hopes on Obama.

“If Mitt Romney wins, I think that Republicans would have a (stricter) policy towards Caracas,” he said. “I'm afraid that this attitude would just affect the people, but not the Hugo Chávez's regime.”

“(But) if Barack Obama wins, I sincerely think that there will be no change,” he added.

PAKISTAN
For many in the world’s second-largest Muslim country, the third presidential debate covered two existentially important areas of foreign policy: the hugely unpopular use of drones to target alleged militants and whether Pakistan and the United States should “divorce.” 

Whether either candidate represented a real change was up-for-discussion, however.

Pakistan's 'Generation Y' battles to shape country's future

Whoever occupies the Oval Office has little room move independently on Pakistan or any other foreign policy issue, said Ahsan Iqbal, a member of parliament for the Pakistan Muslim League.

“American foreign policies are made in places like the Pentagon where the institutional memory has little to do with who the president is,” he said. “Be it Romney or Obama, nobody is going to rock the boat.”

In Pakistan's largest city, 'Old Glory' is flammable and profitable

Still, Mohammad Waseem, a 40-year-old handyman from the capital Islamabad, said he hoped the election would bring a change from Obama, even though he did not even know the name of the GOP challenger.

“Obama hasn't been good for Pakistan. As we are Muslims, America wants to enslave us,” he said.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

Billions in foreign aid that have gone to Pakistan have done little to help regular people, Waseem said.

“The dollars they send here only go to the rulers,” he said. “Help us fight inflation. Help us find jobs.”

JAPAN
“Mr. Romney lacks 'shomin kankaku'," said businessman Choei Yamaoka in Tokyo’s Shimbashi, a mecca for Japan's middle-class salarymen. "And for continuity's sake, it’s probably better for Japan to have Mr. Obama remain President.”

"Shomin kankaku" is a popular term in Japanese politics that means "commoner's sensibilities," and acts as a barometer for politicians’ strength or public approval.

But it isn’t just commoner's sensibilities that are on the minds of Japanese people. Two decades of economic stagnation have forced Japan to relinquish its position as the world's second largest economy to China.

"Not only does Mr. Romney lack shomin kankaku, he seems too hostile towards China," housewife Shizuko Otani told NBC News.  "We need to work with China.”

Also in this series: Suspicion of US rife as Obama, Romney jab China

Still, Romney has some supporters.

"Looking back at the last four years, I have to say I support Romney," taxi driver Akio Hiraide said. "Past American presidents have all been more supportive of Japan. I just don't get that feeling from Mr. Obama.” 

GERMANY
If the U.S. presidential election were held in Germany, Obama would win by a landslide. In a recent poll by public broadcaster ZDF, 89 percent of respondents said they would vote for Obama if they could.

ZDF Political Director Theo Koll called the result “astonishing” and said Germans were impressed with Obama’s introduction of universal health care.

Slideshow: On the campaign trail

Reuters, Getty Images

In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.

Launch slideshow

“The fact that Americans had no health system in a way Europeans would define a health system, that millions were without insurance, was quite strange,” he said.

From 2010: Europe 'dismayed' as midterms highlight Obama's struggles

One Obama fan is Simon Rossbach, a 26-year-old student in Mainz.

“I’ve liked Obama since he appeared on the political stage because of his personality,” he said while reading ‘The Hunger Games’ at the local Starbucks. “Romney’s demeanor and message make him appear unappealing.”

Indeed, Romney seems to be such a turnoff to some Germans that they cancelled their contracts with Allianz after a report that employees at the American branch of the insurance giant had donated to the Romney campaign.

Also in this series: Should next US president treat Russia as friend or foe?

Experts said Romney has a much harder stance, because he never visited Germany as a presidential candidate, while Obama drew a 200,000-strong crowd at his 2008 Berlin speech.

“Romney is just less known here,” Klaus Scharioth, a former German ambassador in Washington, D.C., told NBC News. “Obama has proven himself to Germans with his foreign policy efforts.”

Scharioth said many Germans feel that the Obama government is willing to include other nations in its handling of developments in the Middle East, Afghanistan or Russia.

KENYA
Several hundred people are expected to converge in the dusty streets near the edge of the mighty Lake Victoria in Western Kenya where they hope they will see Obama re-elected.

“We will slaughter a number of bulls around here. People will drink and celebrate, they will sing and dance,” said Peter Okath, 33, who owns shops and a clothing business.

When Obama became president, Kogelo, described as Obama’s Kenyan home, erupted in celebration.  The jubilation ran through the country as many locals hoped that the election of an African-American president would lead to the promotion of issues affecting Kenya.

But those high expectations have largely not been met: A survey conducted for BBC found that Kenya was the most pro-Romney of the 21 countries where research was carried out. Some observers explain this by saying that like many African leaders, Kenyans are frustrated that the Obama White House hasn’t spent more in the region. 

NBC News' Amalia Ahmad, Tazeen Ahmad, Carlo Angerer, Ali Arouzi, Maria Camila Bernal, F. Brinley Bruton, Ed Flanagan, Paul Goldman,  Charlene Gubash, Lawahez Jabari, Rohit Kachroo, Wajahat Khan, Jim Maceda, Mary Murray, Kerry Sanders, Keir Simmons and Arata Yamamoto contributed to this report.  

More world stories from NBC News:

• Analysis: Suspicion of US rife as Romney, Obama batter China
• Meet Afghan female rapper, colonel who defy the odds
• Analysis: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions
• Chinese say one child is enough as Beijing weighs end of policy
• Analysis: Should next president treat Russia as friend or foe?
• China opposition party lasts a day, founder gets 8 years in prison
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Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Slideshow: The dance of two giants

AFP - Getty Images

A click-through history of modern relations between the United States and China.

Launch slideshow

News analysis

BEIJING – It isn't only the U.S. presidential candidates who have had to withstand a verbal pummeling during the race -- China has been the subject of some of the most sustained attacks from Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, both of whom seem to be competing for who can be toughest on the world’s second-largest economy.

Romney has called China "a currency manipulator" and pledged to "crack down" on the country. Obama, meanwhile, has described China as an adversary, and said his administration was sending "a very clear message that America is a Pacific power and we are going to have a presence there."

China was mentioned 32 times during the last presidential debate. This appeared to have prompted China's netizens, who tend to be younger and better educated than average, to take to online feeds in droves to watch Obama and Romney fight it out.

With its own seismic political transition in-the-works, reaction to American fighting talk has ranged from the philosophical to the plainly disinterested, a mood of suspicion replacing the euphoria that infected many young Chinese after Obama's election in 2008. 

An October 17 editorial published by state-run news agency Xinhua called Obama and Romney’s China-bashing "a ritual" that "leaves Americans with the impression that China is responsible for their country’s decline."

"There are plenty of other U.S. politicians who have built their political popularity and career by chastising the Chinese government and its policies," another Xinhua editorial said. "U.S. politicians have a notorious record of rounding on China during election seasons and then quickly changing their course of action after taking office."

Full coverage: NBCNews.com's The World is Watching series

Despite the official and semi-official take on the race, many regular Chinese approached by NBC News said they weren't following the U.S. election --  an indication that issues like high inflation, rising property prices and a slowing economy have a more immediate impact on people's lives. 

"I have no idea. It has nothing to do with me," 22-year old Liu Ziyu, a recent college graduate, told NBC News when asked who he would like to see win the race.  

Luan Ke, 23, an editor and journalist at a Beijing newspaper echoed a popularly held opinion when he said neither candidate would really change the relationship between the world's remaining superpower and an emerging power.   

"I don't think there is any essential difference between the two," he said. 

Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas

Luan and others pointed to a growing list of issues plaguing the Sino-U.S. relationship. The United States has accused China of undercutting American competitiveness and jobs by circumventing trade laws and undervaluing the yuan to help its exporters. 

China has indeed kept its currency cheap by indirectly pegging the yuan to the dollar through the purchase of $1.15 trillion in U.S. bonds, making it the second largest holder of American debt after the Federal Reserve.

Also in this series: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions

But while this issue is frequently used to show Beijing's inordinate power over the American economy, most experts acknowledge that the risks go both ways: A unloading of U.S. bonds would likely cause the dollar to plummet in value, but at the same time send the yuan soaring, dramatically raising the price of its products internationally and possibly sparking skyrocketing inflation due to runaway commodity prices.

The Obama administrations' three rounds of quantitative easing -- the act of injecting currency into the money supply – has angered Chinese policy makers because it devalues the dollar and makes its products more expensive internationally. 

Also in this series: Should next US president treat Russia as friend or foe?

The two countries have also been involved in a tit-for-tat trade spat. The Obama administration has won international rulings on trade issues ranging from the dumping of Chinese tires to cheap steel on the American market. In return, China has countered with its own protective tariffs on American auto parts and chicken feet.

Meanwhile, the United States' re-engagement with the Asia-Pacific region – dubbed a "pivot" by the White House – comes as China transforms itself into a modern and confident fighting force. Territorial regional disputes have become hot-button issues for China, which Beijing is increasingly unafraid to push back on. 

China brings its 1st aircraft carrier into service, joining 9-nation club

Throughout the campaign, Chinese state media has reminded viewers and readers of the chasm that often exists between American candidates' rhetoric and their policies once in office. For example, in 1992, candidate Bill Clinton pummeled President George H.W. Bush for dealing with China's ruling Communist Party, whom Clinton famously dubbed the "butchers of Beijing."

Just eight years later, candidate George W. Bush accused lame duck president Clinton of being soft on China, slamming him for declaring Beijing "strategic partners."

Despite the knowledge that American campaign rhetoric often doesn't match the reality once a president is in office, observers have been keeping a close eye on the U.S. campaign trail and the changing relationship between the two countries.  

"America's refocus and return to the Asia-Pacific region has brought increased challenges to the Sino-U.S. relationship," Zhang Guoqing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of American Studies, told NBC News. In particular, there is growing anger and frustration at what is seen as obstructionism on the part of the Obama administration, which is blocking high-profile industrial firms like Huawei and Sany from investing in strategic industries like energy and telecommunications. 

Also in this series: Despite bloodshed, Mexico is ignored during White House race

Despite American efforts to re-label the pivot as a "rebalancing" of its diplomatic and economic resources as well as its military ones, China’s attention has largely focused on the U.S. shift militarily. So suspicion of the United States’ changing role in the region has run rife on Beijing’s streets.

More China coverage from NBC News' Behind the Wall blog

"(The United States) might suppress China and prevent it from being the boss in Asian-Pacific region," Chen Huaijie, a 32-year old voice-over artist for a Chinese state broadcaster, told NBC News. 

Regardless of who wins next week, expect China to approach the president-elect warily but, given the country’s growing prominence on the world’s stage, confidently.  

NBC News’ Li Le and Yanzhou Liu contributed to this report.

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• Analysis: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions
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• Analysis: Should next president treat Russia as friend or foe?
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News analysis

LONDON -- One thing is clear: whether it's President Barack Obama or President Mitt Romney, dealing with Russia will be on his "must do" list.

The "sleeping bear" has been pretty restless lately: it has vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria and blocked U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the civil war there; it has refused to pressure Tehran, even though it helped build Iran's nuclear enrichment program; and relentless push-back by Russian President Vladimir Putin against basing a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic – both former Soviet satellite states – has left those two NATO members exposed and nervous.

Jason Reed / Reuters, file

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, on June 18. In the past six months, while supplying arms and support to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, Putin has shut down a U.S. government program inside Russia that dismantled its obsolete nuclear weapons, and restricted USAID's operations there.

But figuring out what to do about Russia first means defining who exactly Russia is. Is it, as Romney submits, America's "number one geopolitical foe"? Or, as Obama seems to believe, is Russia a post-Cold War rival with whom we can do business?

Let's step back a little here. Certainly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, relations with Russia under President Boris Yeltsin were more benign. Remember all the guffawing and back-slapping between Yeltsin and President Bill Clinton?

Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images, file

President Bill Clinton laughs with Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin during a press conference on October 23, 1995.

Unfortunately, all that good cheer soon turned into a humiliating debacle. Yeltsin was often intoxicated. He launched two disastrous wars in Chechnya, and became a laughingstock as his economy tanked and rich "oligarchs" divvied up the nation's wealth.

Full coverage: NBCNews.com's The World is Watching series

Then came Putin – the former KGB agent who heavy-handedly stopped the hemorrhaging. He re-established Kremlin control over oil and gas, and as oil prices tripled he pumped billions of petro-dollars into his military and, as importantly, into the salaries and pensions of Russian voters.

'An equal'
His popularity skyrocketed; and it was time for the West to take heed. At a Munich security conference in 2007, Putin threw down the gauntlet. He accused the United States – under President George W. Bush – of a murderous policy of global domination and said Russia had the weapons to "neutralize" any missile defense near its borders.

Also in this series: Suspicion of US rife as Obama, Romney jab China

It was not a declaration of war, but it was a turning point – from an America-friendly…to a confrontational Russia. "Russia was back," Fyodor Lukyanov, managing editor of Russia in Global Affairs, told me. "That was the message – we have the resources. You need the resources, and you need to treat Russia with respect. As an equal."

And the chill began to thaw. Dmitry Medvedev succeeded Putin as Russian president and seemed more open and Western-minded than his mentor.

He and his counterpart, Barack Obama, agreed to "reset" relations, hoping that the rebooting would clear all the static. Soon, both sides came together on transporting supplies for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan across Russian territory; cooperation in areas like counter-terrorism and narcotics interdiction increased; Medvedev even championed some political reforms that would have guaranteed the emergence of a real opposition. That is, until Putin retook the presidency last May. Since then, he's rolled back all the reforms, and seems to have "re-reset" U.S.-Russian relations to the days of the Cold War.

Russia warns Obama's 'reset' in relations 'cannot last forever'

Putin is turning the screws, and not just by dramatic moves, like imprisoning members of the female punk group, Pussy Riot, on charges of blasphemy for having performed an anti-Putin song in a Moscow church.

"A pale of repression is settling over the country," wrote Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation in a recent New York Times editorial. "This crackdown is wrapped in legislative garb, but the iron grip of authoritarianism is unmistakable."

New laws now slap pro-democracy protesters with large fines for "illegal assembly." One protest leader – Sergei Udaltsov, the head of the Left Front – has been charged with "plotting riots" and could spend 10 years in jail.

Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

Others may follow – the courts have just expanded the meaning of "high treason" to include the sharing of information with any foreign non-governmental organization. In addition, NGOs which get funding from abroad must now register as "foreign agents," echoing the days of Cold War espionage.

Also in this series: Despite bloodshed, Mexico is ignored during White House race

And even as our presidential candidates debate whether Russia is a friend or enemy, there seems little doubt that Putin himself sees America as a looming geopolitical target. In the past six months alone, while supplying arms and support to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, Putin has shut down a U.S. government program inside Russia that dismantled its obsolete nuclear weapons; he's closed the UNICEF offices, and restricted USAID's operations there.

Russia tells US: We don't' want your aid money

As his anti-American policies multiply, it's small wonder that in a recent national poll, Russians were seriously divided on whether they loved America…or hated it (46 percent to 38 percent, respectively).

Conservatives like Cohen are frustrated. While Putin turns Russia into a "fortress," they say, the Obama administration keeps offering up carrots, like gaining Russia access to the World Trade Organization.

They claim the reset just hasn't worked.

"America should pursue its national interests in relations with Moscow, instead of pursuing a feel-good mirage," Cohen wrote.

'Putinization' spreading in Europe, US group warns

President Romney says he would stand up to Russia and talk tough about human-rights abuses. But it's less clear just how a 2nd term Obama presidency would deal with Putin's Russia.

Putin himself has said that he'd rather work with Obama than with the "misled" Romney. That's understandable – on Obama's watch, Putin has succeeded in cracking down on civic dissent at home and building the world's largest publicly-traded oil company – Rosneft.

Russia's Putin: Romney 'mistaken,' Obama 'honest'

Some Russia analysts are calling strategic energy reserves Putin's "new Red Army" – the Kremlin now controls some 25 percent of Europe's, including European NATO members', energy needs.

But does all of that make Russia an enemy, like al-Qaida or Iran? Hardly. Still, it probably means that the next U.S. president is going to have to take off the gloves in dealing with it.

"Putin's understanding of international affairs comes down to a fight for power and prestige," says Lukyanov.

Also in this series: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions

And Putin seems intent on using that power and prestige to counter U.S. influence around the globe, even as he turns Russia back into a police state.

The columnist John Vinocur recently suggested that, if re-elected, Obama should "stand up with protesting Russians the next time they fill Moscow's streets."

But how many protesters – and their leaders – will be languishing in jail by then?

Jim Maceda is an NBC News correspondent based in London who has covered Russia and the former Soviet Union for more than 20 years.

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Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney \arrives to deliver a foreign policy speech at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., Monday, Oct. 8, 2012.

Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of leading a rudderless foreign policy, saying Monday that the threat of conflict in the Middle East is greater than it was four years ago.

The Republican presidential nominee delivered a major policy address at the Virginia Military Institute, which was intended to distinguish Romney from Obama on questions of foreign policy, while also casting Romney as a steady, presidential and plausible commander-in-chief for voters. 

Recommended: First Thoughts: Has the race changed?

The speech focused heavily on upheaval in the Middle East — the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, popular uprisings in Syria and Egypt, the Iranian nuclear program and America's relationship with Israel — to level the charge that Obama had chosen to "lead from behind" as president.

"The president is fond of saying that 'the tide of war is receding.'  And I want to believe him as much as anyone," Romney said. "But when we look at the Middle East today … it is clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office."

Romney essentially argued that, in most instances, Obama had failed to project a clear and coherent American policy abroad. The GOP presidential hopeful suggested that he would use U.S. power with greater clarity, taking a tougher tack versus Iran and working to support allied forces in Syria, where the Assad regime has launched assaults on rebels that have left thousands dead.

Much of the speech dealt with the recent outbreak of violence in Libya, where a siege on a U.S. consulate — waged apparently by terrorists — left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Romney said those attacks were "likely the work of forces affiliated with those that attacked our homeland on Sept. 11, 2001," reflecting the emerging admission by the Obama administration that the Libya incident was a terrorist attack, rather than a spontaneous protest connected to a web video about Islam, as had originally been thought.

Romney's handling of the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack, though, had partly prompted his decision to deliver such a broad-reaching foreign policy address as today's. The candidate earlier had charged the administration with, essentially, siding with the attackers on the U.S. consulate — an argument that was labeled by critics as capricious, since it came just hours after Stevens' death.

"I also believe the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions," Romney said at the time. "It’s never too early for the United States government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values."

Today, Romney placed blame for the attacks "solely" with those who had launched them, but argued that Obama had nonetheless been asleep at the wheel throughout the crisis.

"It is the responsibility of our president to use America’s great power to shape history — not to lead from behind, leaving our destiny at the mercy of events," Romney said. "Unfortunately, that is exactly where we find ourselves in the Middle East under President Obama."

That theme echoed throughout Romney's remarks, which included a vow to tighten sanctions against Iran's nuclear program and reverse a set of automatic spending cuts — which would fall heavily on the defense budget — set to take place at the beginning of 2013, barring action by Congress.

Romney also called for a closer relationship between the U.S. and Israel, a hallmark of the Republican nominee's campaign speeches, along with expanded free-trade pacts in the Middle East and beyond.

Slideshow: Mitt Romney's life in politics

Jonathan Ernst / Getty Images

From governor's son to presidential contender, a look at the life of Republican Mitt Romney.

Launch slideshow

The former Massachusetts governor also said he would act more forcefully to encourage popular uprisings in Syria and Egypt. Romney said he would "identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values" in Syria, and arm them. In Egypt, Romney said he would try to influence that government's development to support democracy and their peace treaty with Israel.

Monday's stagecraft, though, was essentially an effort to offer up Romney as a reasonable alternative to Obama as a world leader, and distinguish the two candidates more meaningfully. There were details, though, that were absent from Romney's speech; he didn't outline the standard by which he would authorize more sanctions or military action versus Iran. And while Romney called Obama's decision to withdraw the last "surge" troops from Afghanistan last month a "politically timed retreat," Romney would only have kept those troops there a few months longer, through the height of the fighting season.

Obama enjoys an advantage over Romney on both the question of which candidate would be a better commander-in-chief and which candidate voters trust to better manage foreign policy.

Forty-seven percent of voters said in last week's NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that Obama would be a better commander in chief; 39 percent of registered voters preferred Romney. On the question of who would best handle foreign policy, Obama led 46 to 40 percent.

But there are additional signs that Obama faces vulnerabilities. Americans were split, 46 to 45 percent, in disapproving of the president's handling of the situation in Egypt, Libya and other Arab countries that are suffering from unrest.

"We just watched what leadership looks like," said Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, in Ohio shortly after Romney's remarks concluded.

Still, the election is expect to focus primarily on issues of the economy, while foreign policy takes a backseat to more dominant pocketbook issues.

Foreign policy and national security strategy, though, will each be litigated further over the course of the campaign. One of the two remaining debates between Obama and Romney will be mostly dedicated to that subject, and this Thursday's vice presidential debate will pit Ryan — whose expertise rests on budgetary issues, not foreign policy — against Vice President Joe Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Mid morning sun shines on Dalton-in-Furness, northwestern England on September 26, 2012. Relatives of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney were born and bred here in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

A sign for Romney Road is seen on a street in Dalton-in-Furness. Not many people would associate Romney with Britain but it was in these rain-soaked plains of northern England that his ancestors lived for generations, converted to Mormonism and left for the U.S. in 1841 in search of the promised land.

Reuters reports from Barrow-in-Furness, England — Mitt Romney's fight to become America's next president has the backing of one enthusiastic group of supporters, although they don't actually have a vote: his relatives in England.

Few associate the Republican candidate with Britain but it was in England's industrial northwest that his ancestors lived for generations and converted to Mormonism before leaving for the United States in 1841 in search of the promised land.

Full election coverage at NBC Politics

It was a bold escape for a family of lowly carpenters. By sailing for the New World they took a step that eventually brought the Romney clan to the fore of American politics.

In foreign policy speech, Romney will encourage military spending, Syria intervention

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Jennie Iveson, aged 69, poses with family photographs inside her terraced home in Barrow-in-Furness. Jennie is Mitt Romney's fourth cousin.

Records show that Jennie Iveson is Mitt Romney's fourth cousin - they share a great-great-great grandfather, George Romney, who died in 1859. And now she can't help but notice that her distant American relative does bear a striking family resemblance.

"I saw him on the telly twice the other day, last week I think. He looks a bit like my brother," said Iveson, a retired factory worker, most of whose children have no jobs.

Romney gets personal at Florida rally

"(My brother) looks quite like him. He had dark hair like him. It's all grey now. He (Romney) looks like our Mike. Same sort of face and everything." Read the full story.

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Jennie Iveson poses outside her terraced home in Barrow-in-Furness. Her distant cousin Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest Americans ever to run for the White House. Today, Washington's backrooms of power and intrigue are as far removed from the daily grind of his distant kin in Lancashire as one can imagine.

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Simon Nash, his wife Maria and their 12-year-old daughter Sarah pose inside their home in Preston. Maria is Mitt Romney's fourth cousin, twice removed. Asked if she would like to meet Romney in the White House, Maria said "I think it would be very surreal. I would like to go there for a brew (cup of tea) if he ever got in there."

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

An original baptism record shows details of some of Mitt Romney's clan who were born and bred in the parish of Preston.

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Mormons attend a service at a church beside the Preston England Temple in Chorley, Europe's biggest Mormon temple, September 26, 2012.

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Peace in the Middle East -- probably not going to happen, and it’s Palestinians’ fault, according to Mitt Romney.

That was the sentiment from the Republican nominee for president at a closed-door fundraiser, according to released excerpts of video from the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones. Romney painted Palestinians as “having no interest” in peace and “committed to the destruction of Israel.”

“I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard,” Romney said when asked how he thinks the “Palestinian problem can be solved.” “One is the one that I've had for some time which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”

This contradicts public comments from Romney that he believes in a "two-state solution." “I believe in a two-state solution which suggests there will be two states, including a Jewish state," he told the newspaper Haaretz.

Romney talks about the difficulty in establishing borders for an independent Palestine that would allow Israelis to thwart the flow of weapons from Iran to the region.

“We have got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank,” Romney said.

Related: Leaked video is the latest hit for Romney

He adds: “These are problems that are very hard to solve. And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes -- committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. I just say there is no way, and so, what you do is you move things along the best way you can and hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem.

“The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up, to give the Palestinians to act is the worst thing in the world. We have done that time and time again. It does not work. The only answer is to show strength again, American strength, American resolve and the Palestinians someday reach a point where they want peace or that we are trying to force peace on them. That is worth having a discussion. But until then it's just a political thing.”

Recommended: Conservatives reaction mixed to Romney 47 percent video

Romney has been sharply critical of President Obama's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship -- in particular, President Obama's urging Israel to halt settlement expansion.

American presidents have struggled for decades to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Though the United States has provided Israel with military support and arms, it has traditionally maintained a role of neutrality when it comes to discussing the peace process.

This is not the first time Romney has found himself in the midst of controversy when it comes to Israeli-Palestinian issues.

Back in July, at a fundraiser during his overseas trip, Romney implied Palestinian “culture” was to blame for lower gross-domestic product in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority versus Israel.

“Culture makes all the difference,” Romney said. “Culture makes all the difference.”

The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to an email request for response.

A full transcript of the exchange is below:

QUESTION: You were in Jerusalem.  And we appreciate you being there.  How do you think that the Palestinian problem can be solved? What are you going to do about it?

ROMNEY: “I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard.  One is the one that I've had for some time which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that? Some might say because the Palestinians have West Bank and have security and have set up a separate nation for the Palestinians. And then come a couple of thorny questions. I don't have a map here to look at the geography. But the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital the industrial capital of Israel the center of Israel.

It's what the border would be seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would the West Bank. Nine miles, okay I came close. Nine miles. The challenge is the other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would be Syria at one point or Jordan. Of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did to Lebanon what they did in Gaza, which is the Iranians would want to bring missile and armament into West bank and potentially threaten Israel. 

So Israel of course would have to say that can't happen; we have got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank. Well that means who, the Israelis would patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation. Well the Palestinians would say no way we are an independent nation, you can't guard our border with other Arab nations. How about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we going to allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in, if not who is going to keep it from coming in? Well the Israelis. The Palestinians are going to say well we are not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what to land in our airport.

These are problems that are very hard to solve. And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes. Committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. [inaudible] I just say there is no way and so what you do is you move things along the best way you can and hope for some degree of stability but you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem.

The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up, to give the Palestinians to act is the worst thing in the world we have done that time and time again. It does not work. The only answer is to show strength again, American strength, American resolve and the Palestinians someday reach a point where they want peace or that we are trying to force peace on them. That is worth having a discussion. But until then it's just a political thing.