Muslim-Western tensions persist: Poll

WASHINGTON - Muslim and Western publics continue to see relations between them as generally bad, with both sides holding negative stereotypes of the other, according to a new poll.
Many in the West see Muslims as fanatical and violent, while few say Muslims are tolerant or respectful of women, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey finds.
Meanwhile, Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy – as well as violent and fanatical.
However, the survey finds somewhat of a thaw in the US and Europe compared with five years ago. A greater percentage of Western publics now see relations between themselves and Muslims as generally good compared with 2006.
In contrast, Muslims in predominantly Muslim nations are as inclined to say relations are generally bad as they were five years ago. And, as in the past, Muslims express more unfavourable opinions about Christians than Americans or Europeans express about Muslims.
For the most part, Muslims and Westerners finger point about the causes of problems in their relations, and about which side holds the high ground on key issues. Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere who say relations with the West are bad overwhelmingly blame the West.
However, while Americans and Europeans tend to blame Muslims for bad relations, significant numbers believe Westerners are responsible.
One note of agreement between Westerners and Muslims is that both believe Muslim nations should be more economically prosperous than they are today, the poll says. But they gauge the problem quite differently. Muslim publics have an aggrieved view of the West – they blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity. Across the Muslim publics surveyed, a median of 53% say US and Western policies are one of the top two reasons why Muslim nations are not wealthier.
In contrast, few Americans or Western Europeans think the economic challenges facing Muslim countries are a result of Western policies. And although Westerners have become less likely over the last five years to say fundamentalism is a chief cause of economic problems in Muslim nations, they remain much more likely than Muslims to hold this view.
These are among the key findings from a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted March 21 to May 15.1 The survey updates a number of trend questions from a 2006 Pew Global Attitudes poll that explored how Muslim and Western publics view one another. The current survey finds that five years later – and nearly 10 years after the attacks of September 11, 2001 – tensions remain high, although there are also some shared concerns.
For instance, both Muslims and Westerners are concerned about extremism. More than two-thirds in Russia, Germany, Britain, the US and France are worried about extremists in their country.