LONDON — For much of the world, Senator Obama’s victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire America, at a time when the nation’s image abroad is in tatters.

From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Mr. Obama’s ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing “WE DID IT!” on the “Brits for Barack” site on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for America.

“This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime,” Sunila Patel, 62, a widow encountered on the streets of New Delhi, India, said. “A black president of the U.S. will mean that there will be more American tolerance for people around the world who are different.”

The primary elections generated unprecedented interest around the world, as people in distant parliament buildings and thatched-roof huts followed the political ups and downs as if they were watching a Hollywood thriller.

Much of the interest simply reflects hunger for change from President Bush, who is deeply unpopular in much of the world. At the same time, many people abroad seemed impressed — sometimes even shocked — by the wide-open nature of American democracy and the history-making race between a woman and a black man.

“The primaries showed that the U.S. is actually the nation we had believed it to be, a place that is open-minded enough to have a woman or an African-American as its president,” a Tokyo political analyst, Minoru Morita, said.

“I think it will be put down as a shining, historical moment in the history of America,” a professor at Tokyo University, Fumiaki Kubo, said.

While Senator Clinton has admirers around the world, especially from her days as first lady, interviews on four continents suggested that Mr. Obama’s candidacy has most captured the world’s imagination.

“Obama is the exciting image of what we always hoped America was,” the director of Chatham House, a London think tank, Robin Niblett, said. “We have immensely enjoyed the ride and can’t wait for the next phase.”

The presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. McCain, who has extensive overseas experience, is known and respected in much of the world. In interviews, Mr. McCain seemed more popular than Mr. Obama in countries such as Israel, where he is particularly admired for his hard line against Iran. In China, leaders have enjoyed comfortable relations with Mr. Bush and are widely believed to be wary of a Democratic administration.

“Although no one will admit it, Israeli leaders are worried about Obama,” a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Eytan Gilboa, said. “The feeling is that this is the time to be tough in foreign policy toward the Middle East, and he’s going to be soft.”

But elsewhere, people were praising Mr. Obama, 46, whose heavy emphasis on the Internet helped make him better known in more nations than perhaps any American primary candidate in history.

In Kenya, Mr. Obama’s victory was greeted with unvarnished glee. In Kisumu, close to the home of Mr. Obama’s late father, hundreds crowded around televisions to watch Mr. Obama’s victory speech this morning, chanting “Obama tosha!” which translates as, “Obama is enough!”

“Our fortunes as the people of Kenya are certain to change. Obama knows our problems and I’m sure he has them at heart,” a shoe shiner in Kisumu, Salim Onyango, 32, said. “When he becomes president, he will definitely put in place support for us in Kenya.”