Max Boot notes that little noticed survey which shows that Americans are becoming more popular.
What’s the explanation for this curious behavioral trend? “The answer varies by country, but analysts point to waning public anger over the invasion of Iraq, gratitude for the massive U.S. tsunami relief effort and growing conviction that the U.S. is serious about promoting democracy.”
And that’s not all:
There is also increasing aversion to America’s enemies, even in the Islamic world. The Pew poll found that ‘nearly three-quarters of Moroccans and roughly half of those in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia see Islamic extremism as a threat to their countries.’
“Support for suicide bombing has declined dramatically in all the Muslim countries surveyed except Jordan, with its large anti-Israeli Palestinian population. The number of those saying that “violence against civilian targets is sometimes or often justified” has dropped by big margins in Lebanon (-34 points) and Indonesia (-12) since 2002, and in the last year in Pakistan (-16) and Morocco (-27).”
And don’t miss this statistic (though it probably won’t get much attention from the MSM): “Muslim opinion also challenges jihadist orthodoxy that proclaims that giving power to the people, rather than to mullahs, is ‘un-Islamic.’ The latest Pew poll found ‘large and growing majorities in Morocco (83%), Lebanon (83%), Jordan (80%) and Indonesia (77%) — as well as pluralities in Turkey (48%) and Pakistan (43%) — [that] say democracy can work well and is not just for the West.’”
Read all Max wrote here.