July 14, 2005
Turning from terror?
A new survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, conducted among more than 17,000 people in 17 countries this spring—so before the London bombings—suggests that Muslim support for Islamic terrorism is starting to waver:
[I]n most majority-Muslim countries surveyed, support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence in defense of Islam has declined significantly. In Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia, 15% or fewer now say such actions are justifiable. In Pakistan, only one-in-four now take that view (25%), a sharp drop from 41% in March 2004. In Lebanon, 39% now regard acts of terrorism as often or some-times justified, again a sharp drop from the 73% who shared that view in 2002.
Suicide bombings against Westerners in Iraq, however, are seen as an exception:
Nearly half of Muslims in Lebanon and Jordan, and 56% in Morocco, say suicide bombings against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable. However, substantial majorities in Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia take the opposite view.
Pew also reports that Osama bin Laden’s popularity is falling in many predominantly Muslim countries. In Lebanon, just 2% report some or a lot of confidence in bin Laden, and in Turkey only 7% do so. In Morocco, just 26% of the public now say they have a lot or some confidence in bin Laden, down sharply from 49% in May 2003. In Indonesia, the public is now about evenly split, with 35% saying they place at least some confidence in bin Laden and 37% saying they have little or none—a major shift since 2003, when 58% expressed confidence in bin Laden. There are some exceptions, notably Pakistan and Jordan, but overall bin Laden appears to be displaying the early symptoms of Bush syndrome.
The survey notes that declining support for terror in a number of the Muslim countries surveyed tracks with previously reported dramatic increases in favorable views of the United States in Indonesia and Morocco. Favorable opinions of the U.S. surged most among younger people in Morocco, but were equally evident among both the young and old in Indonesia. The polling also found that in most Muslim countries women were less likely to express an opinion of the U.S. than were men, but when they did, they held a somewhat more positive view.
Full details here.
Posted by Stephen at 5:08 PM in Terrorism | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
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