Bin Laden Struggling in the Polls
By Montag | Related entries in Polls, The World, WarPresident Bush isn’t the only one facing declining poll numbers.
Public confidence in bin Laden has dipped sharply since May 2003 in Indonesia, Morocco, Lebanon and Turkey…
But there is even better news. From the same article:
In Lebanon, the number of people who think the use of suicide bombing and other forms of violence is justified in defense of Islam has dropped from 73 percent in the summer of 2002 to 39 percent now. A decrease in this number also was seen in Morocco, which fell from 40 percent a year ago to 13 percent now, and in Pakistan and Indonesia. In Jordan, the number of people who feel such violence is justified has grown slightly; the number in Turkey remains very low.
Interestingly, in Jordan where the number of people who feel violence is justified is growing, “…the sentiment for suicide bombing against Americans and their allies in Iraq dropped from 70 percent to 49 percent…”
This is a good thing, right? Does it mean we are winning over ‘hearts and minds’?
The United States remains broadly unpopular in those heavily Muslim countries. Solid majorities of the people in Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan and Indonesia have an unfavorable view of the United States, while Moroccans are split. Young people in Morocco, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey view America more favorably than the overall populations in those countries, the polling found.
Associated Press: Poll: Support for bin Laden on decline
So, while we seem to be making some progress on the ‘hearts and minds’ front, at least with youngsters, is there some other motivation for this impressive shift in public opinion? The article points out that Indonesia, Morocco, Lebanon and Turkey have all recently suffered terrorist attacks which may account for the shift.
Just specualting here, but might it also be that insurgents in Iraq are killing civilians at an increasing rate? Are people in that part of the world realizing that the terrorists aren’t acting in their best interests?
This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 and is filed under Polls, The World, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 7th, 2006 at 12:22 am
Good job.