Americans: People in Muslim Countries Have Negative Views of U.S.

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- An overwhelming majority of Americans say that people in Muslim countries have unfavorable opinions about the United States, little changed from five years ago. There has been some change, however, in the reason given for Muslims' negative opinions -- more Americans now than in 2002 say it is because of U.S. actions rather than "misinformation," although a majority still believes it is the latter. In an interesting contrast, only about a third of Americans themselves claim to have an unfavorable opinion of Muslim countries.

Despite the continuing discussion of Islam and Muslim countries in the news in recent years, there has been little change since 2002 in Americans' self-reported knowledge of the opinions and beliefs of people who live in Muslim countries. Less than half of Americans say they know a great deal or a moderate amount about Muslim countries. Those who claim to know most about these countries have the most favorable opinions.

These conclusions are based on a January Gallup Poll update of a set of questions that Gallup first asked in March 2002.

Attitudes Toward Muslim Countries

About one-third of Americans say they have an unfavorable opinion of Muslim countries, another third say they have neutral opinions, and one-fourth have favorable opinions.

In general, please tell me whether your opinion of Muslim countries is very favorable, somewhat favorable, neither favorable nor unfavorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable?

The proportion of unfavorable responses that are "very unfavorable" is larger than is true for the respective favorable and "very favorable" responses, as can be seen in the accompanying table.

It is remarkable that these attitudes have changed so little over the years since they were first measured. The nature of Islam, the actions and intentions of Muslim countries, the ongoing violence between branches of Islam in Iraq, the continuing incidence of terrorist bombings, and a number of other Muslim-related topics have been prominent in U.S. news coverage since 2002. Yet today's attitudes are almost precisely what they were in March 2002.

Republicans are more negative about Muslim countries than are independents or Democrats.

Attitudes toward Muslim countries break even among Democrats, while attitudes are more negative than positive among Republicans, by a 27-point margin. One plausible explanation for this difference has to do with the current Republican administration's strong identification with fighting terrorism, both at home and abroad.

The Looking Glass: Perceptions of What People in Muslim Countries Think of the United States

There continues to be a general consensus among Americans that people in Muslim countries have unfavorable opinions of the United States.

In general, do you think people in Muslim countries have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, neither favorable nor unfavorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable opinion of the United States?

Currently, 81% of Americans believe that the people in Muslim countries have either a somewhat or a very unfavorable opinion of the United States, with the majority of this group believing the latter.

Again, there has been little change in these attitudes since 2002.

In 2002, Americans were asked about the origin of unfavorable views that Muslims might have of the United States. At that point, almost 8 out of 10 said such views were based on "misinformation" about U.S. actions rather than on what the United States had actually done.

But these sentiments have changed over the last five years. Americans are more likely now than they were in 2002 to say that Muslims' unfavorable views of the United States are based on what the United States has done, and less likely now than in 2002 to say that such attitudes are based on misinformation. It is reasonable to assume that the U.S. involvement in the Iraq war is a major factor in these attitudinal changes. Still, it is important to note that a majority continues to choose the "misinformation" option rather than the "what the U.S. has done" option.

Do you think that the unfavorable views Muslims have of the U.S. are -- [ROTATED: based mostly on what the U.S. has done (or are) based mostly on misinformation provided by their media and government about what the U.S. has done]?            

There is a strong relationship between partisanship and views on the causes of Muslims' unfavorable attitudes toward the United States. Republicans overwhelmingly say it is because of misinformation, while Democrats break even in their attribution of cause.

Given that Democrats are strongly opposed to the Iraq war at this time, it is perhaps not surprising that Democrats are more likely to assume that U.S. actions have caused the negativity, rather than just misinformation.

How Much Do Americans Know About Muslims' Opinions?

A majority of Americans are willing to admit that they know little or nothing at all about the opinions and beliefs of people who live in Muslim countries. Again, despite five years of news coverage of Muslims and Muslim countries, there has been almost no change in this self-reported level of knowledge since 2002.

How much would you say you know about the opinions and beliefs of people who live in Muslim countries -- a great deal, a moderate amount, not much, or not at all?

An analysis of opinions of Muslim countries by self-reported knowledge level shows that the more people know about Muslims, the more favorable their views.

Among Americans who profess to know a great deal or a moderate amount about people living in Muslim countries, opinions of those countries essentially breaks even, with 36% having an unfavorable opinion and 35% a favorable opinion.

Those with lower levels of knowledge are more negative. Among those who say they know nothing about people living in Muslim countries, opinions break negative by a 43% to 13% ratio.

Discussion

While Americans have not changed their views of Muslim societies or their perceptions of Muslim opinions of the United States in the past five years, it is interesting to note the modest change in their assessments of the reason for Muslims' negative opinions. This shift may parallel the shift in public support for the war in Iraq, and especially the difference between the public's support for the war in Afghanistan (which was in progress when the first measurement was taken) and the current conflict.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,018 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 15-18, 2007. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.