With so much discussion here in the US about "Why do they hate us?" it might appear that the Middle East was the only region of the world where the US had an "image" problem. A fascinating new study conducted by the Pew Research Center in the US, however, presents a more complex picture. The Pew study, part of their "Global Attitudes" project, measured the attitude about the US of opinion leaders from 24 countries in six different regions of the world.

The results are quite remarkable since they show that a rather substantial gap exists between US opinion and the attitudes of most of the rest of the world, on some key questions of foreign policy. There are also a number of interesting areas where a convergence of views can be found. For example, with regard to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the resultant war on terror, there was universal agreement that "the terrorist attacks and the subsequent war opened a new chapter in world history". In the US, 78% agreed with this statement, only 20% disagreed.

In all of the rest of the world, a nearly identical 79% agreed, with 18% disagreeing. Similarly, there was a convergence of views between the US and world opinion with the statement that the "terrorist attacks are the start of a conflict between the West and Al-Qaeda, and not a conflict between the West and Islam".

But when asked whether, in conducting this war, "the US was taking into account the interests of its partners or acting on its own", the agreement ends. Seventy percent of Americans indicated that they felt that "the US was taking into account the interests of its partners", only 28% felt that the US was "acting mainly on its own interests". In the rest of the world the percentages are reversed, with 62% believing the US is acting on its own and only 33% thinking that the US is taking into consideration the view of its partners.

A similar gap appears when the opinion leaders were asked "if it turns out that Iraq and Somalia have supported terrorism, should the US and its allies attack them, or should the war be confined to Afghanistan?". In the US, fifty percent agree to attack, thirty-eight percent do not. In the rest of the world, only 29% agree that "the US and its allies should attack" Iraq and Somalia, while 54% do not agree with an expansion of the war effort, even if either country can be shown to have supported terrorism.

When the global respondents were asked whether, in their opinion, "ordinary people" in their countries had a favorable or unfavorable view of the US, overall 69% indicated a favorable view, as opposed to only 28% who felt that unfavorable views of the US held sway among ordinary people. Strongest support came from Western Europe, while in the Middle East, views were evenly divided.

When asked why people disliked the US, the four major reasons, in rank order, were: Resentment of US power in the world; US policies which have contributed to the growing gap between rich and poor; growing power of US multinational corporations; US support for Israel.

When asked why the US was liked, the major reasons given were: America is the land of opportunity; the US has led in scientific and technological innovation; American democratic ideals are appealing.

One final area where significant differences exist between the opinions of the US respondents, and those of the rest of the world, had to do with "whether or not the US has been too supportive of Israel". Only 35% of Americans agreed that the US had been too supportive, while 45% disagreed. On the other hand, in the rest of the world, seventy-three percent thought the US was too supportive of Israel.

Is the US too supportive of Israel?

Because of its limited scope and because it is only a targeted survey of "elites", opinion leaders, the Pew study should be supplemented by a more far reaching public opinion poll. But even with this limitation, its results do suggest that the US needs to look more closely at the impact that its actions may have on world opinion.