Summary of Findings
A year after the war in Iraq, discontent with America and its policies has
intensified rather than diminished. Opinion of the United States in France and
Germany is at least as negative now as at the war’s conclusion, and British
views are decidedly more critical. Perceptions of American unilateralism remain
widespread in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined
America’s credibility abroad. Doubts about the motives behind the U.S.-led war
on terrorism abound, and a growing percentage of Europeans want foreign policy
and security arrangements independent from the United States. Across Europe,
there is considerable support for the European Union to become as powerful as
the United States.
In the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, anger
toward the United States remains pervasive, although the level of hatred has
eased somewhat and support for the war on terrorism has inched up. Osama bin
Laden, however, is viewed favorably by large percentages in Pakistan (65%),
Jordan (55%) and Morocco (45%). Even in Turkey, where bin Laden is highly
unpopular, as many as 31% say that suicide attacks against Americans and other
Westerners in Iraq are justifiable. Majorities in all four Muslim nations
surveyed doubt the sincerity of the war on terrorism. Instead, most say it is an
effort to control Mideast oil and to dominate the world.
There has been
little change in opinion about the war in Iraq – except in Great Britain, where
support for the decision to go to war has plummeted from 61% last May to 43% in
the current survey. In contrast, 60% of Americans continue to back the war.
Among the coalition of the “unwilling,” large majorities in Germany, France and
Russia still believe their countries made the right decision in not taking part
in the war. Moreover, there is broad agreement in nearly all of the countries
surveyed – the U.S. being a notable exception – that the war in Iraq hurt,
rather than helped, the war on terrorism.
In the four predominantly
Muslim countries surveyed, opposition to the war remains nearly universal.
Moreover, while large majorities in Western European countries opposed to the
war say Saddam Hussein’s ouster will improve the lot of the Iraqi people, those
in Muslim countries are less confident. In Jordan, no less than 70% of survey
respondents think the Iraqis will be worse off with Hussein gone.
This
is the latest in a series of international surveys by the Pew Global Attitudes
Project. It was conducted from late February to early March in the United States
and eight other countries, with fieldwork under the direction of Princeton
Survey Research Associates International. The survey finds a significant point
of agreement in opinion on Iraq’s future. Overwhelming majorities in all
countries surveyed say it will take longer than a year to establish a stable
government in Iraq. But there are deep differences about whether the U.S. or the
United Nations would do the best job of helping Iraqis to form such a
government. The U.N. is the clear choice of people in Western Europe and Turkey;
Americans are divided over this issue. However, roughly half of Jordanians and a
third of Moroccans volunteered that neither the U.S. nor the U.N could do best
in this regard.
Americans have a far different view of the war’s impact
– on the war on terrorism and the global standing of the U.S. – than do people
in the other surveyed countries. Generally, Americans think the war helped in
the fight against terrorism, illustrated the power of the U.S. military, and
revealed America to be trustworthy and supportive of democracy around the world.
These notions are not shared elsewhere. Majorities in Germany, Turkey
and France – and half of the British and Russians – believe the conflict in Iraq
undermined the war on terrorism. At least half the respondents in the eight
other countries view the U.S. as less trustworthy as a consequence of the war.
For the most part, even U.S. military prowess is not seen in a better light as a
result of the war in Iraq.
A growing number in Western Europe also think
that the United States is overreacting to the threat of terrorism. Only in Great
Britain and Russia do large majorities believe that the U.S. is right to be so
concerned about terrorism. Many people in France (57%) and Germany (49%) have
come to agree with the widespread view in the Muslim countries surveyed that the
America is exaggerating the terrorist threat.
Nevertheless, support for
the U.S.-led war on terrorism has increased dramatically among Russians, despite
their generally critical opinion of U.S. policies. More than seven-in-ten
Russians (73%) currently back the war on terrorism, up from 51% last May. Since
the end of the Iraq war, there also have been gains in support for the U.S.
anti-terrorism campaign in Turkey (from 22% to 37%) and Morocco (9% to 28%). On
the other hand, backing for the war against terrorism has again slipped in
France and Germany; only about half of the public in each country favors the
U.S.-led effort.
Publics in the surveyed countries other than the United
States express considerable skepticism of America’s motives in its global
struggle against terrorism. Solid majorities in France and Germany believe the
U.S. is conducting the war on terrorism in order to control Mideast oil and
dominate the world. People in Muslim nations who doubt the sincerity of American
anti-terror efforts see a wider range of ulterior motives, including helping
Israel and targeting unfriendly Muslim governments and groups.
Large
majorities in almost every country surveyed think that American and British
leaders lied when they claimed, prior to the Iraq war, that Saddam Hussein’s
regime had weapons of mass destruction. On balance, people in the United States
and Great Britain disagree. Still, about three-in-ten in the U.S. (31%) and
four-in-ten in Great Britain (41%) say leaders of the two countries lied to
provide a rationale for the war.
In that regard, opinions of both
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are negative. Large
majorities in every country, except for the U.S., hold an unfavorable opinion of
Bush. Blair is rated favorably only by a narrow majority in Great Britain but
fully three-quarters of Americans. In contrast, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan is viewed positively in nearly all nine countries surveyed, with Jordan
and Morocco as prominent exceptions.
The United Nations itself engenders
varied reactions around the world. Just 55% of Americans have a favorable
opinion of the world body. This is the lowest rating the U.N. has achieved in 14
years of Pew Research Center surveys. People in Russia and the Western European
countries have a considerably more favorable view of the U.N. But large
majorities in Jordan and Morocco hold negative views of both the U.N. and the
man who leads it.
Majorities in the Western European countries surveyed
believe their own government should obtain U.N. approval before dealing with an
international threat. That idea is much more problematic for Americans, and on
this issue Russians and people in Muslim countries are much closer to Americans
than they are to Western Europeans.
Despite that small piece of common
ground, however, there is still considerable hostility toward the U.S. in the
Muslim countries surveyed. Substantial numbers in each of these countries has a
negative view of the U.S. Overwhelming majorities in Jordan and Morocco believe
suicide attacks against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable.
As a point of comparison, slightly more people in those two countries say the
same about Palestinian suicide attacks against Israelis.
About half of
Pakistanis also say suicide attacks on Americans in Iraq – and against Israelis
in the Palestinian conflict – are justifiable.
Fewer respondents in
Turkey agree, but slightly more Turks view suicide attacks on Americans in Iraq
as justifiable as say the same about Palestinian attacks on Israelis (31% vs.
24%).
Other Findings
• Despite concerns about
rising anti-Semitism in Europe, there are no indications that anti-Jewish
sentiment has increased over the past decade. Favorable ratings of Jews are
actually higher now in France, Germany and Russia than they were in 1991.
Nonetheless, Jews are better liked in the U.S. than in Germany and Russia. As is
the case with Americans, Europeans hold much more negative views of Muslims than
of Jews.
• The survey finds, however, that Christians get much lower
ratings in predominantly Muslim countries than do Muslims in mostly Christian
countries. Majorities in Morocco (73%), Pakistan (62%) and Turkey (52%) express
negative views of Christians.
• The adage that people in other nations
may dislike America, but nonetheless want to move there is borne out in Russia,
Turkey and Morocco. Roughly half of the respondents in those three countries say
people who have moved to the U.S. have a better life.
• But one of the
largest gaps between Americans and Europeans concerns the question of whether
people who move to the U.S. have a better life. Americans overwhelmingly believe
this to be the case – 88% say people who move to the U.S. from other countries
have a better life. By contrast, just 14% of Germans, 24% of French and 41% of
British think that people who have moved to the U.S. from their countries have a
better life.