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Muslim majority societies’ approval of U.S. leadership today resembles that of 2008 after an initial upturn in Middle Eastern public opinion in 2009. This is according to the inaugural report of the newly founded Abu Dhabi Gallup Center Measuring the State of Muslim-West Relations: Assessing the “New Beginning” — a study based on more than 100,000 interviews in 55 countries between 2008 and 2010.
The report was launched at an exclusive invite-only event held at the Emirates Palace. The briefing session brought together VIPs from across the United Arab Emirates, including highprofile figures from the worlds of government, business, academia, and policy making. The launch marks the first major report to come out of the recently established Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, developed in a partnership between the Crown Prince’s Court of Abu Dhabi and Gallup, the world’s leading public opinion research firm.
Despite taking back initial gains in public sentiment, majorities in all regions studied believe Muslim and Western communities can avoid conflict. This includes 69% in Europe, 61% in Asia, and roughly 55% in both the Middle East and in the United States and Canada. The optimism for avoiding conflict is especially prevalent among those who believe tension between Muslim and Western societies results more from differences in political interests rather than religion. For example, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), 37% of those who say Western and Muslim communities can avoid conflict assign religion as the root cause of tensions. This compares to 51% who cite religion as the cause of tensions among those who say the two sides cannot avoid clashing.
Gallup researchers found similar trends in a segmentation analysis in which they analyzed those in Muslim and Western societies who were most and least eager for engagement with the other. Analysts found that those in the West and in majority Muslim societies who are most eager for engagement with the other are also more likely to blame friction on politics as opposed to religion.
Though blaming religion for conflict is associated with pessimism, personal religious practice is positively associated with a greater desire for engagement in majority Muslim societies. Researchers found that 72% of those ready for engagement in the Middle East, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa attended a weekly religious service in comparison to 60% who did the same among those who were not ready for engagement.
Gallup also found that readiness for Muslim-West engagement was associated with higher levels of approval of the leadership one’s own country. This suggests that satisfaction with one’s own nation made one more — not less — open to engagement with the other.
Researchers also found that meaningful demonstrations of Western respect for Muslims had both a religious and a political dimension. More than 70% of the majority Muslim public said refraining from desecrating the Quran and other religious symbols would be very meaningful in showing respect, and 54% said the same about treating Muslims fairly in the policies that affected them.
The report makes a number of evidence-based recommendations for those working to improve Muslim-West relations:
Focus on the MENA publics when engaging Muslim communities because they are most receptive to outreach and currently express the lowest approval of American leadership.
Policy initiatives should continue to emphasize mutual respect and mutual interests by discussing the fairness of decisions and actions, in addition to continuing to use culturally appropriate narratives.
In engaging diplomatically and building efforts for collaboration, majority Muslim and Western society leaders must emphasize resolving political issues rather than religious conflict.
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