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According to a new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of the German public, when President Obama speaks to Germans on Friday, he will encounter an audience that is not only positive about Obama himself, but is beginning to lean positively toward the US as well.

Barack Obama on a campaign visit to Berlin, Germany in July 2008 (Photo: David Katz/Obama for America)

At the same time, disagreements remain on US policies on climate change, the use of military force in general, and, most importantly, the operation in Afghanistan.

A striking 89 percent of Germans say they have confidence in Obama to "do the right thing in world affairs."

For the first time since the Iraq war a plurality of Germans express positive views of the US. Forty-four percent of Germans now say the...