Negative feelings between Muslims, Americans mutual

Two polls released in early March have revealed stark differences and mutually negative feelings between Americans and people living in predominantly Islamic countries.

Ten thousand people in nine Islamic countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Jordan, participated in the Gallup Poll of the Islamic World. In all nine countries, a majority reported feeling that Western nations do not care about poor countries, treat minorities unfairly, and have weak morality and meager family values.

The poll also found a widespread perception that Western nations do not respect Arab/Islamic values and are generally unfair to the Arab/Islamic world. More than 60 percent of participants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran reported unfavorable views of the United States specifically.

A second poll, also conducted by Gallup in conjunction with CNN and USA Today, found that Americans have more unfavorable than favorable opinions of Muslim countries. Twenty-four percent of the 863 participants in the U.S. poll report favorable opinions of Muslim countries in general, while 41 percent report unfavorable views.

There are some positive findings in the poll data. Residents of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait expressed admiration for the West’s democratic freedoms, respect for human values and system of rights. And American respondents expressed generally favorable opinions of Turkey, Morocco and Jordan.

(RNS)