Pew Poll Finds Muslim World Unsure of Obama

Muslim World Is Unsure of Obama, Poll Finds

By DALIA SUSSMAN

A new survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that President Obama’s scheduled speech on the Middle East this week will be greeted by skeptical audiences in several predominantly Muslim countries.

The poll, conducted in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia and the Palestinian territories from late March to April (before the killing of Osama bin Laden), finds negative views of the United States and a lack of confidence in Mr. Obama persisting from last year, and in some cases even worsening. The survey, released Tuesday, is part of the Global Attitudes Project.

Broad majorities in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories expressed unfavorable views of the United States. Opinion was divided in Lebanon, and only in Indonesia did the United States receive positive marks. Similarly, except for Indonesia — where Mr. Obama lived for four years as a child, a fact that is well-known there — most said they did not have confidence in Mr. Obama to do the right thing in world affairs, ranging from 57 percent who said so in Lebanon to 84 percent in the Palestinian territories.

With the exception of Indonesia, majorities elsewhere also said they opposed the United States campaign against terrorism and disapproved of the way Mr. Obama was handling the calls for political change in the Arab world.

Regarding the political demonstrations that have taken place in several Arab countries, large majorities in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories said they followed the news about them, and most expressed excitement about the movements. Moreover, more than 7 in 10 respondents in Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories said they thought the protests would lead to more democracy in the Middle East. Those in Turkey and Indonesia were less convinced.

Surveys were conducted face-to-face and each has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

via Pew Poll Finds Muslim World Unsure of Obama – NYTimes.com.