Iran’s Global Image Mostly Negative

By Hani Zainulbhai and Richard Wike

views of iranAs the June 30 deadline for negotiations over its nuclear program approaches, a new Pew Research Center poll finds that attitudes toward Iran are mostly negative worldwide. Majorities or pluralities in 31 of 40 countries surveyed hold an unfavorable opinion of the Islamic Republic. And in several Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Asia, ratings have declined considerably in recent years.

June also marks the second anniversary of the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who generally receives low marks across the Middle Eastern nations polled.

These are among the key findings of a new survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in 40 countries among 45,435 respondents from March 25 to May 27, 2015.
Low Marks for Iran in Middle East, Other Regions

Iran is viewed negatively by most nations surveyed, with a global median of 58% saying they have an unfavorable opinion of the country that borders Afghanistan in the east and Iraq in the west. Pakistan is the only country polled where a majority (57%) views Iran favorably.

In the Middle East, roughly nine-in-ten Israelis (92%) hold a negative opinion of Iran, including nearly all Israeli Jews (97%) and more than six-in-ten Israeli Arabs (63%).

Attitudes are nearly as negative in Jordan, where 89% have an unfavorable view of Iran. Smaller majorities of Turks, Lebanese and Palestinians also give their regional neighbor low marks. Meanwhile, in Lebanon attitudes divide along religious lines. More than nine-in-ten Lebanese Shia Muslims (95%) express a positive opinion of Iran — the country with the world’s largest Shia Muslim population — compared with 29% of Lebanese Christians and just 5% of Sunni Muslims.

With the exception of Pakistan, publics in the Asia-Pacific region are either mixed or negative in their assessments of Iran. Unfavorable views of the Islamic Republic are especially widespread in Japan and Australia (73% and 67%, respectively). Even in Pakistan, opinion of Iran has somewhat soured, with negative ratings increasing from 8% to 16% over the past year.

Iran’s image also suffers in Latin America, where a median of 61% across six countries express unfavorable views. Publics in Africa, while negative on balance, are more mixed in their assessments of Iran. A median of 39% in nine African nations surveyed view Iran in a negative light, 32% view the nation positively, and a quarter do not offer any opinion. In Nigeria, attitudes differ among the predominant religious groups: 43% of Muslims express favorable views of Iran while only 23% of Christians hold that view.

Amidst the negotiations over the future of Tehran’s nuclear program, publics in the so-called “P5+1” countries are generally critical of Iran. Roughly three-quarters of Americans (76%) view Iran unfavorably, virtually unchanged from last year. Majorities in France (81%), Germany (78%), the UK (62%) and China (61%) share this opinion. Only in Russia do about a third (34%) rate Iran positively, and even here the prevailing view is negative (44%).

Continue Reading: http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/18/irans-global-image-mostly-negative/