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Judging America by what it does
Two years ago, I wrote an article titled "It's the policy, stupid". Zogby International had just completed two major polls in several Arab countries. We found that Arabs had very positive attitudes towards American science and technology, freedom and democracy, products, people, education, movies and television. What drove down the overall attitudes towards America, however, was US policy "towards the Arabs", particularly the Palestinians.
The article and the poll found a receptive audience. My brother, John Zogby, and I addressed the Department of State, testified before Congress and lectured on the results before distinguished audiences across the US. What we provided was an antidote to the fictitious claim made by some who had argued that Arab displeasure with the US was based on "cultural differences" or "hatred of American values".
What our polling data showed, quite simply, was that Arabs judged America by how they saw America treating them. It was clear that Arabs, in fact, respected American values - but they did not see American policy reflecting those values. This became even clearer when our poll asked the Arab respondents to utter the first thought that came to mind when they heard "America". They told us "its unfair policies". And when we asked "what should the US do to improve its relationship with the Arab world," responses focused on the need for the US to change its policies to be "more just" and "less biased".
In no case did our respondents mention American values or products.
We have just completed a follow-up study in six Arab countries, to measure what changes in attitude may have occurred in the past two years and to identify the factors that may have accounted for these changes.
The results are disturbing.
Overall, favourable ratings for the US have declined in the past two years. In some countries, the change has been dramatic. In 2002, for example, 38 per cent of Moroccans had a favourable view of the US. In 2004, only 11 per cent held such a view. Similar results are in evidence in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. Even more disturbing is the fact that while Arab attitude towards American values, people and products remain mostly favourable, these too have declined in the past two years.
All this continues to be driven by US policy. The Arab attitude vis-
