Pew Poll Reveals What the World Thinks in 2002

By Richard H. Curtiss

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in the United States recently charged Andrew Kohut with a monumental task: to gauge international public opinion on a variety of important issues facing the world community today. Chairing the committee that oversaw the project was former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

Kohut’s poll—labeled the Global Attitudes Project—took four months to complete, from June to November 2002, and was conducted in some 44 countries, with a total of 38,263 randomly selected adults speaking 63 languages interviewed. It has yielded a number of surprising conclusions.

To begin with, people all around the world are more satisfied with their family lives than with their incomes or jobs. Exceptions can be found in some countries in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where people voice significant discontent with their family lives.

Some regions are particularly affected by problems that are not as prominent elsewhere. For example, Africa is the only region in which a significant minority voluntarily identifies hunger as a personal problem. Also, while crime is a top national problem world-wide, in Latin America it ranks high as a pressing personal concern. One positive exception to this regional rule can be found in Canada, the only country in the West in which a majority of those surveyed expressed satisfaction with national conditions.

One striking revelation concerns how deeply alienated many in the Middle East feel they have become. A word of caution is necessary, since in some countries the survey was not approved by local governments and had to be conducted circumspectly, with the result that participants were not entirely forthcoming. Still, some conclusions were clear. For example, the Turkish government, which Washington seems to have concluded will support a war against Saddam Hussain, is totally out of sync with Turkish public opinion. (Turks, incidentally, seem to be the unhappiest people surveyed in any part of the world.)

Perhaps most interesting are the poll’s findings on international perception of the United States. Over all, the results show a decrease in American prestige, most perceptibly over the last two years, and especially in Muslim nations.

America’s war on terrorism is opposed by majorities in nearly every predominantly Muslim country surveyed. This includes countries outside the Middle East conflict area such as Indonesia and Senegal. Also, sizable percentages of Muslims in many countries with significant Muslim populations believe that suicide bombings can be justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies.

America’s image problems are not confined to Muslim countries.

But America’s image problems are not confined to Muslim countries. The poll found few people, even in friendly nations, expressing a very favorable opinion of the United States, which is particularly unpopular in Egypt and Jordan. Sizable minorities in Western Europe and Canada share that view, while French ratings of the United States are the lowest in Europe. Interestingly enough, Russians have a much better opinion of the U.S. than they did in 2000. Six out of 10 Russian respondents now hold a favorable view of the U.S., compared to 37 percent just two years ago.

As should be obvious, opinions about the U.S. are complicated and contradictory. People everywhere embrace things American, while simultaneously decrying U.S. influence on their societies. Similarly, while the war on terrorism, the centerpiece of current U.S. foreign policy, continues to enjoy global support outside the Muslim world, pluralities in most of the countries surveyed complain about American unilateralism.

Many respondents, especially in Europe and the Middle East, believe the U.S. does not take into account the interests of their respective countries when making international policy. Majorities in most countries also see U.S. policies as contributing to the growing gap between rich and poor nations, and believe the U.S. does not do enough to solve global problems.

Despite such widespread resentment, majorities in nearly every country believe that the emergence of another superpower would make the world a more dangerous place. This view is shared even in Egypt and Pakistan, where no more than one in ten hold a favorable view of the U.S.

Perhaps the biggest contradiction can be found in the American public’s view of itself, which is strikingly at odds with the international community about the global impact of U.S. actions. In contrast to people in most other countries, a solid majority of Americans surveyed believe the U.S. does take into account the interests of other countries when making international policy. Eight in ten Americans believe it is a good thing that U.S. ideas and customs are spreading around the world. The only negative sentiment that resonates with a significant percentage (39 percent) of Americans is the criticism that the U.S. contributes to the gap between rich and poor nations.

EU/U.S./Iraq Follow-Up Survey

A separate, follow-up survey conducted in November in the United States and five allied nations revealed deep and conflicting views on Iraq. Majorities in Britain, France, Germany and Russia agreed that Iraq represented a threat to stability in the Middle East and a danger to world peace. Most of those surveyed, however, oppose the use of military force to end the rule of Saddam Hussain. The British public is evenly split on the issue, while more than 60 percent of Americans say they would back such an action.

While Europeans view Saddam as a threat, they also are suspicious of U.S. intentions in Iraq. Large percentages in each of the countries polled think that the U.S. desire to control Iraqi oil is the principal reason Washington is willing to consider a war on Iraq. In Russia, 76 percent subscribe to the “war-for-oil” view. So do 75 percent of the French, 54 percent of the Germans, and 44 percent of the British. In sharp contrast, just 22 percent of Americans see U.S. policy toward Iraq as being driven by oil interests. Two-thirds believe the U.S. is motivated primarily by a concern over the security threats posed by Saddam Hussain.

The French, Germans and Russians, it should be noted, see the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians as a greater threat to the stability of the Middle East than Saddam Hussain’s continued rule. The American and British publics, on the other hand, worry more about Iraq than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And where do the people get these often contradictory opinions? According to Kohut’s original poll, in almost every country the media rates higher than the national government as a source that influences public opinion. There is also global unanimity as to where people go for news: in the 44 nations initially surveyed, nearly everyone cites television news as their predominant source of information about national and international affairs.

Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.