A Pew poll of global attitudes found that support for suicide bombings has declined dramatically in the Muslim countries surveyed. That’s the glass half-full.

The glass half-empty comes when you look more closely at all the responses in the questionnaire. The number of people — this is the general public, mind you, not raving imams or madrassah students — who continue to support suicide bombing against civilians “to defend Islam from its enemies” is still frighteningly high: 12 percent of Pakistanis (that would come to 21 million people), fully a quarter of Lebanese and Jordanians, and even 3 percent of Turks (that’s 2 million people). Support for the suicide terrorists killing our soldiers in Iraq ranges from a quarter to half of respondents in every country.

Other troubling numbers: Almost everyone polled wanted Islam to play “a more important and influential role in the world.” And in every country but Lebanon, those who saw themselves as Muslims first significantly outnumbered those who saw themselves as members of a distinct nation (Moroccans, etc.).

Oh, and did I mention the Jews? “Very unfavorable” views of them were, as the survey summary politely noted, “endemic.” Even the most hostile European countries surveyed (Russia and Poland) didn’t come anywhere close to the least hostile Islamic country (Turkey).