Pew data on Turkish attitudes toward Christians and the West

I’ve written earlier about the worsening attitudes of Turks toward the West (and Americans), and today the Pew Research Center released more poll data along those lines just a day before Pope Benedict is to visit Turkey.  Current attitudes looks bad enough, with only 12% of Turks having a favorable opinion of the U.S. and about 2/3 seeing Westerners as violent, selfish, arrogant, and fanatical, but these findings are even more remarkable when you compare them to survey results from just a couple years ago.

In 2004, 30% of Turks had a favorable view of the U.S.  Today, just 12%

In 2004, 31% of Turks had a favorable view of Christians.  Today, just 16%.

I think it’s good of Pew to separate out responses from “secular” and “religious” Turks, and not surprising that those who think of themselves first of all as Muslims rather than as Turks have a more negative attitude toward Christians, are more sympathetic toward Palestinians, and think Hamas’ victory will be good for Palestinians.

I hope I’ll get the chance to take a closer look at the data, because I’m curious about how these opinions vary by education level.  It struck me yesterday when I was reading about a protest over the Pope’s visit that the interviewees in that piece all had white collar jobs or were in university.  I suppose this could be a function of the reporter needing to find English-speaking sources, or that the better educated are more likely to participate in social action of that kind, but I also suspect that the educational divide between secular and religious Turks, and those with more or less negative views of the West has declined over the last decade or so…maybe even the last couple years.

What I’d also like to see are sales figures for books related to missionaries, the Crusades, Masons, Zionists, the Pope, etc.  There was always a section of your local Turkish book store on conspiracies and plots to undermine Turkish society, but I have a sense that sales these days are booming.