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.  

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Adriana Alvarado / AP

Rapid response Coahuila state police stand at a checkpoint iin Piedras Negras, Mexico, after a prison break on Sept. 18. Security is among the challenges facing the country.

News analysis

Where is home to the largest number of Americans living abroad, as well as the world's richest man?

Which country is the United States' third-largest foreign supplier of oil?

Which nation did President George W. Bush call the U.S.' most important bilateral partner?

Which close American ally has lost some 60,000 lives in a U.S.-backed effort to combat violent crime?

The answer to all of the above is Mexico.

But despite the many ties that bind the two countries, the United States' southern neighbor barely warranted a mention during the presidential campaign, and didn't come up once during the third "foreign policy" debate between Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.

This omission is not lost on many in Mexico.

"At times the United States sees Mexico as an unconditional ally and they see us with the stigma of an undeveloped nation," said Eduardo Rosales, director of the United States-Mexico relations master's program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). "But the United States needs to put their eyes south. It is the most important bilateral relationship in the world."

Some Mexico-related news is grimly familiar to most Americans -- tens of thousands have died in violence since outgoing President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country's drug cartels at the end of 2006.

Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Mexican cartels funnel between $19 and $39 billion worth of illegal drugs to the United States every year, according to the State Department. The United States, in turn, is a major source of weapons for the cartels.

Mexico's death toll remains stubbornly high and swathes of the country virtually ungovernable despite the Merida Initiative, a $1.9-billion U.S.-funded program aimed at fighting trafficking, organized crime and money laundering.

A vivid example of the shared security challenges came in August when Mexican police officers thought to be working in cahoots with the cartels ambushed and wounded two U.S. agents.

Oscar Alvarez, a college student in the northern state of Coahuila, alleged that much of the blame for the violence and crime lies with the United States, the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs.

"The demand on drugs is not being controlled ... and Mexico will always be affected," said Alvarez, 22, who has a small printing business to help cover the costs of school. "Whoever wins (the U.S. election) needs to act. I've heard a lot of talk but I haven't seen anything get done."

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

More election news at Telemundo

That the drugs trade and the hyper-violent crime that surrounds it is a shared problem has not been widely accepted in the United States, according to UNAM's Rosales.

"The problem is the consumption and the things that surround it such as violence and money laundering," he said. "It's a reality that is neglected by the United Sates. But our bloodshed continues to grow."

Cross-border methamphetamine trade booms amid Mexico's 'war on drugs'

It isn't clear how incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto of Institutional Revolutionary Party, which governed Mexico for about 70 years, will deal with the cartels, but indications are that many in country are losing patience with the drug war.

"I'm against the war," former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda told NBC News in May. "At six years on, it is beginning to look more difficult to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel."

Crime and cartels do not define Mexico.

It is one of the United States' most important trading partners. Its economy, the world's 14th largest, grew at 5.5 percent in 2010 and 3.8 percent in 2011, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, despite the global economic downturn. Trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada -- members of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- is worth more than trade within the eurozone. 

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

A symbol of Mexico's growing international economic prominence is Carlos Slim Helu– a telecoms tycoon with wide-ranging investments including a sizable stake in The New York Times – who topped Forbes' list of the world's richest people in 2012.

But despite billionaire tycoons and high growth rates, the anemic economy north of the border is hurting Mexico.

Mexico leader's message to US: 'No more weapons!'

Isidoro Peyron, owner of a family-run tile-making business in Pachuca, central Mexico, says the United States' slowdown has hit him directly. Whoever wins Tuesday's election must kickstart the economy for the sakes of both the U.S. and Mexico, he says.

"The next president of the United States needs to reactivate the American economy," said Peyron, 63, who has stopped exporting to the United States. "They are (Mexico's) main commercial partner."

Nevertheless, U.S. trade with Mexico totaled about $500 billion in 2011. 

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

The 2,000-mile border between the two countries makes this trade easier, but the easy access also fuels another issue that both unifies and divides the U.S. and Mexico: immigration.

At an estimated 12 million, Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group in the United States. And around 7 million, or 59 percent of undocumented immigrants, are thought to have come from Mexico.

While Obama decreed earlier this year that hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who went to the United States illegally as young children would be entitled to remain, the promise he made in 2008 to reform immigration has not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile, there have been more deportations under the Obama administration than during any other presidency in modern times.

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

But even though Obama has disappointed many for not delivering on immigration reform, the UNAM's Rosales did not hold out hope that Romney will resolve the problems.

"If Romney got to power, there would be zero chances of an immigration reform," Rosales said. "If Obama is elected a second term, it's still hard, but the chances increase."

Romney favors a U.S.-Mexico border fence and opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants, as well as offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college, although he would support doing so for those who serve in the armed forces.

More Mexico coverage from NBC News

Mike Reyes, who currently resides in Mexico City, lived in Arizona for eight years as an illegal immigrant. He feels the U.S. fails to appreciate what immigrants like himself contributed to the country.

"We hope the situation with Hispanics can be resolved in this election," said Reyes, 45, who works as a driver for the public transportation system despite having a degree in business.

Net Mexican immigration to the United States has stopped growing and may even have declined in recent years, according to a recent study. But with about half of Mexico's population classified as poor, economic realities are likely to continue propelling many Mexicans north for years to come. 

So immigration policies pursued by the winner of the 2012 presidential race will have an impact not only on the United States but Mexico.

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• Meet Afghan female rapper, colonel who defy the odds
• Analysis: Israel, Iran name checks illustrate America's twin obsessions
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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. 

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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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Jason Reed / Reuters, file

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on July 29. The two men are friends from three decades back when they worked together at the Boston Consulting Group.

News analysis

TEL AVIV, Israel -- In a season dominated by opinion poll numbers, here's another telling figure: 34.

That was the number of times Israel was mentioned in the final debate between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.  Iran recieved a more frequent name check but that was often in association with Israel. All-in-all, it added up to a pretty accurate gauge of the United States' foreign policy obsessions.

Clearly Israel is still the center of the American world – exactly where a country on the receiving end of $3 billion of military aid annually likes to be.  And at the crux of the Israel-United States' relationship, and presidential race, is what Washington would do if Israel attacked Iran's nuclear program.

"(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has turned the Iranian issue into something so significant, an existential threat, that now many people here believe that so much now depends on whoever is the president of the United States," said Ronen Bergman, an Israeli commentator and journalist. "The prime minister believes that a President Romney would turn a blind eye – or show a sort of blinking green light – to an Israeli airstrike on Iran."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday was quoted as saying that his country may still decide next year whether to launch a military strike against Iran, despite Tehran drawing back from its ambitions to build a nuclear weapon.

Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military dimensions but governments in Europe and the United States are increasingly concerned about its intentions. 

Friends for decades
U.S.-Israeli relations have endured an unusually rocky period during the Obama administration, from Washington’s failed attempts to force the pace on Palestinian peace talks to Iran's nuclear program.

So if not quite endorsing Romney, Netanyahu made his preference for the Republican challenger perfectly clear. 

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The two men are friends from three decades back when they worked together at the Boston Consulting Group. They share a conservative outlook and a multi-billionaire backer in the shape of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.

Romney’s summer visit to Jerusalem cemented the deal. He praised Israel's "economic vitality" compared to its Palestinian neighbor, and said it had much to do with the "hand of providence." 

But it is Iran which has brought to the two together.

And that suits the Israeli prime minister fine. He is fighting his own election and wants national security and specifically Iran, issues on which he can portray himself as a strong leader, to the fore.

But would Romney turn out to be quite as supporting of a military strike as some in Israel hope? During the third and final presidential debate, Romney was offered the chance to explicitly say whether he would support an Israeli attack on Iran.

He didn't take it, dismissing the question as "hypothetical" and saying the issue would have to "discussed and carefully evaluated." Not too different from Obama.

In foreign policy, both Obama and Romney face fiscal realities

Still, Israelis favor the Republican candidate by a margin of two-to-one, a recent opinion poll commissioned by Tel Aviv University found.

"(Romney) is better … because he wants to be friends with Israel," said Ya'acov Rassamkin, a student from Jerusalem. "Romney wants the U.S. and Israel to be real partners, like one team, and Obama on the other hand wants to be friends but not act like one team."

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And to wonder which way Israel would actually vote for in the American election is not an entirely theoretical question.

According to IVoteIsrael, around 160,000 Israeli citizens possess U.S. passports. By campaign’s end, almost half will have registered postal votes.

Both Democrats and Republicans here say the issue of security is the number one concern.

"Israelis feel that Israel would be in better shape if Mitt Romney is elected,’" said Abe Katsman, of Republicans Abroad Israel. "The biggest problem with President Obama is that he had done a lot of damage to the relationship with Israel. The idea of putting daylight between America and an ally strikes me as a very dangerous thing to do."

Democrats here are acutely sensitive to the charge of "throwing Israel under the bus," and intensely angered by it.

"Obama understands the need for security and the right to live in a Jewish state and a democracy," said Sheldon Schorer, of Democrats Abroad Israel. "He's proven it time and time again. The relationship between the president of the United States and the state of Israel has never been better."

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images, file

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chat during meetings in the Oval Office on March 5.

In return there have been warm words for the president from defense minister Barak and the retired head of the Mossad intelligence agency, Ephraim Halevy, who referred to Obama's sanctions on Iran as a "success."

And there are many Israelis worried that their prime minister has gambled too heavily on a Romney victory. Their concern: that a returning President Obama might want a little pay back.

"The question is if Obama is re-elected, will he retaliate for the unprecedented support Netanyahu has given (to Romney) and try to force him where he is really afraid to go; back into peace negotiations with the Palestinians," Bergman said.

And if Israel and Iran are taking starring roles in the U.S. campaign, the Palestinians haven't merited much more than a walk on part.

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In headline terms, if Palestinians view Obama as a disappointment, then Romney they fear would be a disaster.

And in their eyes, Romney compounded his missteps in Jerusalem with his secretly taped description of Palestinians as "committed to the destruction and elimination" of Israel while indicating he's unlikely to pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.

The Palestinian-American blogger and businessman Sam Bahour writes: "Romney scares me, seriously scares me. President Obama may have failed the Middle East in his first term as he picked up the pieces of eight years of damage caused by George W. Bush's administration, but every time Gov. Romney opens his mouth on Middle East affairs he exposes his extraordinary American ignorance."

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Of Obama, he adds there is only a "weak hope that a second term president" would address Palestinian aspirations.

Israel's own day of democratic decision-making takes place just two days after the next U.S. president assumes power in January.

Netanyahu is widely expected to win and he will argue that in a Middle East that's got a whole lot more difficult for America to manage, merely keeping Israel and the Iranian question at the top of the White House agenda is a triumph.

Still, there's a balance to be struck between loyal ally and troublesome partner. And it would be foolish to assume that whoever's in the Oval Office will be willing to do Israel's bidding.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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