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Why Do They Hate Us?
We then followed with a series of other polls in the region:
I believe it is useful to report the results chronologically to grasp the impact of issues and events as they actually unfolded. The conclusion from the entire series of the project is inescapable: Arabs and Muslims appeared to like various aspects of American life and culture. It was United States policy toward the Arab and Muslim world – most especially with US policy toward Palestine and the Palestinians – with which they had serious problems. Would those problems with policy have a serious negative impact on their views toward the US? The answer was clear: yes. Indeed, our 2003 polling shows a serious deterioration of Arab and Muslim views toward the US. No doubt, as we shall see, the war in Iraq has had an overall negative impact. Results of 2002 Polling Results in our March and April, 2002 polling varied because there was an additional and unplanned variable, which appears to have had an impact on our results, i.e., the sampling of some of the nations was completed before Israel made its heaviest incursion into the West Bank. It appears clear that this activity, along with the apparent blessing of the Bush administration, may have impacted not only how adults in these countries view American foreign policy, but also how they regard anything American. Nonetheless, what emerged from our opinion study are the following general conclusions: [Note: Bar charts illustrating each topic are omitted from the text that follows, but are available in the PDF version that can be downloaded from this web site.—Editor]
In all countries polled, strong majorities displayed high regard for American science and technology. In the five Arab countries covered by the poll, the favorable/unfavorable ratios ranged from Kuwait’s 86 to 12, to Saudi Arabia’s 71 to 26.
The reviews were mixed about American freedom and democracy. While majorities were favorable everywhere except Iran and Indonesia, there were substantial minorities in all places (except Venezuela, France, and Pakistan) who were not positive – Egypt (38%), Saudi Arabia (44%), Kuwait (39%), Lebanon (40%), UAE (44%), and Indonesia (53%). In the five Arab countries covered in the poll, results were somewhat similar, ranging from Lebanon’s 58% to 40% favorable to unfavorable ratio to the U.A.E.’s 50% to 44% net favorable rating toward American freedom and democracy. The non-Arab Muslim countries displayed significantly different attitudes, with Pakistan most favorably inclined toward American freedom and democracy (72% to 19%), while Indonesia recorded only a 36% to 53% rating. Iran, on the other hand, had an extremely negative attitude with only 7% of Iranians favorable and 92% recording unfavorable attitudes. France’s attitudes were similar to the high end of the Arab countries (57 to 29), while Venezuela was most favorably inclined (87 to 9). Only in the Arab countries were age and Internet and satellite access factors in shaping attitudes. In most cases, these factors produced a 15% or greater impact in favorable ratings. Only in Iran of all of the other five countries polled, did age and Internet access have a comparable impact.
While there were net negative feelings toward the American people in Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia (51% in Saudi Arabia, the only majority), majorities of Kuwaitis and Lebanese were favorable – including 63% of Kuwaiti nationals. No discernible age patterns can be seen, though interestingly, 35% of the youngest French have unfavorable views of the American people.
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