Two polls show Arabs, America are poles apart
___By Holly Lebowitz Rossi
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Two new polls reveal stark differences and mutually negative feelings between Americans and people living in predominantly Islamic countries.
___Ten thousand people in nine Islamic countries--including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Jordan--participated in the Gallup Poll of the Islamic World.
___In all nine countries, a majority reported feeling that Western nations do not care about poor countries, treat minorities unfairly and have weak morality and meager family values.
___The poll also found a widespread perception that Western nations do not respect Arab/Islamic values and are generally unfair to the Arab/Islamic world.
___More than 60 percent of participants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and Iran reported unfavorable views of the United States specifically, and a majority in five of the nine countries also said the United States is "provoked easily."
___A second poll, also conducted by Gallup in conjunction with CNN and USA Today, found Americans have more unfavorable than favorable opinions of Muslim countries.
___Twenty-four percent of the 863 participants in the U.S. poll report a favorable opinion of Muslim countries in general, while 41 percent report an unfavorable view.
___Seventy-one percent of American respondents said that they believe the Muslim world considers itself to be at war with the United States, and 63 percent believe the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan is justified.
___At the same time, more than 80 percent of Pakistani and Kuwaiti respondents and a majority of Iranian and Lebanese respondents said they believe that groups of Arabs did not carry out the Sept. 11 attacks.
___There are some positive findings in the poll data. Residents of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait expressed admiration for the West's democratic freedoms, respect for human values and system of rights.
___American respondents expressed generally favorable opinions of Turkey, Morocco and Jordan.
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