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World opinion about the United States has been pushed down to a new low by the US-led war on Iraq and many Muslims worry that the United States might become a military threat to their countries, according to an international opinion survey released Tuesday.
The Pew Global Attitudes Project poll, conducted from April 28 to May 15, in 20 countries and the Palestinian-ruled areas, found that "in most countries, opinions of the United States are markedly lower than they were a year ago."
Majorities in seven of the eight Muslim countries surveyed expressed concern that their nations might be attacked by the United States. In Morocco, that feeling was shared by 46 percent of the population.
"Negative views of the United States among Muslims, which had been largely limited to countries in the Middle East, have spread to Muslim populations in Indonesia and Nigeria," the poll said.
In western Europe, where people generally hold favorable attitudes toward the United States, favorable opinions of the United States have slipped in nearly every country.
Asked about their confidence in world leaders to do the right thing, even in most countries that are friendly to the United States, only modest percentages have confidence that US President George W. Bush will do the right thing in international affairs.
The poll had a margin of error of three to four percentage points.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)
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