Poll: Few Americans have favorable view of Muslim world

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Shortly before President Obama departs for a trip to the Middle East, a new national poll suggests that one in five Americans has a favorable view of Muslim countries.

Increasing point of view from 2002:

That view compares with 46 percent of the people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey who say they have an unfavorable opinion of Muslim countries. That's up 5 percentage points from 2002, when 41 percent indicated that they had an unfavorable view.

For more speculations:

The poll also suggests that most Americans suspect people in Muslim countries don't think highly of the United States. Nearly eight in 10 questioned say people in Muslim countries have a unfavorable opinion of the United States, with 14 percent saying Muslims hold a favorable view.

Does it matter?

But the poll indicates Americans seem to be split on whether such negative opinions by Muslims matter. Fifty-three percent of those questioned say they think Muslim views of the United States matter greatly or moderately, with 47 percent saying that Muslim opinions of the United States don't matter very much or at all.

Breaking news:

"The feeling seems to be mutual. We distrust Muslims. They distrust Americans. Views of Americans have not changed very much over the past seven years. There are some indications that Muslims' views of Americans have improved a bit since Barack Obama took office, but they are still not positive," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst.

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[edit on 2-6-2009 by artvandalay]

Well I guess the propaganda campaign worked then? Americans are being lead on, if only Americans knew the contributions to the Constitution and our legal system that the Qu'ran has made through the founding fathers they may have a different opinion. It wasn't just the Qu'ran, it was the Bible, philosophers like Cicero and Plato, and the lessons learned from the Roman experiment.

Don't be easily lead. If you don't trust the government, why would you believe what they say about Muslims and the Middle East?

Does it really matter who thinks what anyway? Government is going to do whatever the hell it wants to do no matter who approves or gets in the line of fire.

As for your polls, I personally believe the mainstream media isn't doing the public any favors, and I'm not blaming any one network in particular - I believe they are all equally guilty of perpetuating misinformation and hunting for bad news to serve you to get ratings.

[edit on 2-6-2009 by sos37]