The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey shows that Turks have the least favorable views of the U.S. out of people in 47 countries. Back in 2002, 30% had a favorable view (that’s where the Germans are today).
While Pew finds that opinions of the U.S. have worsened in 23 of 33 countries for which they have trend data, the slide is not uniform in Muslim countries:
“…while negative views of the U.S. continue to prevail in much of the Muslim world, anger is not as universal today as it was in the spring of 2003 after the start of the war in Iraq. At that time, just 1% of Jordanians – and less than 1% in the Palestinian territories – gave a favorable rating to the United States, compared with 20% and 13%, respectively, today. And while still far from positive, America’s image has recovered substantially in Lebanon as well.”
My experience has been that most Turks are too polite to bring up their misgivings about the U.S. in any confrontational kind of way. But if you, my American readers, find yourself in a heated discussion here in Turkey, just remember two magic words: Bill Clinton. He’s still well-loved for touring areas hit by the earthquake in 1999 and merely mentioning his name will dissipate most tension with a calming wave of nostalgia.
Here’s a snapshot of the survey results:
3 comments ↓
So interesting that politeness trumps anti-American sentiment in Turkey. The same was true in my experience in Brazil, where support for the US isn’t nearly as low (44%) but isn’t exactly high either. The individuals I met who did voice their complaints about the US to me, situated their gripes in historical context and focused on policy issues. They also always did so in a way that made me think they were getting that out of the way so we could move on to being friends - that we could be friends as long as they knew I knew about x, y, & z injustices. Gente boa. For me it was an interesting lesson in seeing (and treating) individuals as individuals and not as small embodiments of their government or culture of origin. I don’t think Americans are quite as good at that.
I think it’s funny that people in Ghana like Americans more than Americans do!
Petra: I was surprised by the high rating, too, though technically we don’t know what they think about Americans. It’d be interesting to see a comparable figure for attitudes toward U.S. citizens. I bet the negative attitudes wouldn’t be as strong, but would the ranking change much?
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