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Why Do They Hate Us?
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Americans became painfully aware of the gap in understanding between our world and much of the Arab and Muslim world. Front page headlines and newsmagazine cover stories asked “why do they hate us?’ Pundits and scholars across the ideological spectrum offered answers that ranged from the serious to the silly. Some suggested that the behavior of the attackers was not aberrant, but characteristic of Islam and its followers. They suggested that the West and Islam are not only different, but are inevitably headed toward a clash. Others suggested that “they” hate our democratic values, our superpower status, our wealth, and our people. Still others noted that it was our policy of unquestioning support for Israel, our denial of Palestinian rights, and our collaboration with authoritarian regimes in the Middle East that was behind “their” alienation from “us.” At the same time, it was striking to see that a similar discussion was taking place in the Middle East. While U.S.-based think tanks have plotted strategies to improve communications with the people of the Middle East, their counterparts in the Arab and Muslim worlds have been engaged in identical discussions designed to enhance U.S. understanding of the Arabs and the religion of Islam. In all of this, however, little effort had been made to conduct the kind of opinion research that is done in the United States and the West in an effort to probe more deeply into the perceptions and worldview of the Arabs and Muslim people. Some polls, some good and some bad, have been taken. Some polling in Lebanon—conducted by Zogby International partner Information International of Beirut in October and November—revealed some disturbing currents in that nation. Though limited in scope and focused on one country, that poll demonstrated a deep alienation from and lack of empathy with the United States. A massive multi-country poll by the Gallup organization in early 2002 found much the same. It was in this context that Zogby International launched its own poll of ten countries from March 4 through April 3, 2002. Our objectives were simple:
In short, we sought to discover what “they” really do think of the United States and the various manifestations of America that impact their lives. Our methodology was simple. We conducted face-to-face interviews in five Arab nations—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Face-to-face interviews were also conducted in three non-Arab Muslim nations – Pakistan, Iran, and Indonesia. To establish a proper context for our results, we also conducted face-to-face interviews in France and Venezuela. We have, over the years, developed a unique expertise polling in several Middle Eastern countries. We have polled on the television habits of residents of five Arab countries; attitudes toward the economy and a variety of social and political issues in some of these same countries; on the future of information technology in the region; and on detailed voting behavior in the elections in Iran and Israel. Building on this experience, this Spring 2002 poll was specifically designed to learn about attitudes towards “Americans”—not “America” in general, but on the many different ways that our country manifests itself in the world and interacts with its people. If we grant the conventional wisdom, somewhat expressed by our colleagues at the Gallup organization, that “America” is viewed unfavorably, the question we sought to answer was what factors, if any, drive this unfavorable attitude.
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