U.S. eye on Muslim nations: Dim, danger

by Mark Silva

As President Barack Obama heads tonight for Saudi Arabia, we have noted in these e-pages what the residents of many Arab nations think of the new United States leadership - not much, with about one quarter of those surveyed by Gallup voicing positive views, yet significantly more than they thought of the last U.S. administration.

Americans, it turns out, generally don't have the most positive view of Muslim nations either - with a new CNN/Opinion Research poll showing that nearly half - 46 percent - of those surveyed saying they have an unfavorable view. Still, a slim majority - 53 percent - say they believe it matters what Muslim nations think of the U.S.

And much of Obama's mission this week, primarily his public address to the Muslim world from a televised stage at Cairo University on Thursday, is centered on improving that impression.

It's noteworthy that nearly one in three people surveyed on this question are noncommittal: 31 percent told CNN's pollsters that they have neither a positive nor negative view of Muslim nations. They weren't asked which nations they are thinking about, of course - this isn't a question of Indonesia versus Saudi Arabia, but rather a generalized question that might tend to bring out the worst prejudices in people.

The May 14-17 survey found just 17 percent holding a somewhat favorable view of Muslim nations and 4 percent a very favorable view.

Just 14 percent of those surveyed said they think that people in Muslim nations have a favorable view of the U.S., which isn't giving others much credit, it seems.

Yet, asked if it matters to them personally what people in Muslim countries think of the U.S., a majority said it matters - 23 percent a great deal, 30 percent a moderate amount. Nearly half, 47 percent, said it doesn't matter much or at all - which is roughly the same percentage of people who say they hold a dim view of Muslim nations.

The biggest numbers in the survey are these: 62 percent say the U.S. is not at war with the Muslim world, but 62 percent think the Muslim world thinks it's at war with the U.S.

And 36 of Americans surveyed say the U.S. is at war with the Muslim world - after former President George W. Bush spent a lot of time attempting to convince people that that wasn't the case. Which suggests that Obama still has a lot of work cut out for him.

The survey of 1,1010 adults carries a possible 3 percentage point margin of error.