Muslim countries give Obama failing grade

Washington: Confidence in President Obama among the world's Muslims is slipping, according to a poll of global attitudes that also found widespread concern that the United States remains a go-it-alone nation even under the new administration.

The survey, by the Pew Research Centre's Global Attitudes Project, found support for Obama strong in most nations, even as his rating at home has slipped.

But in five of seven Muslim-majority nations that were polled, his popularity slid over the last year, winning approval ratings from about one-third or less of respondents. The finding will probably be of concern to the White House, which has worked to improve America's image abroad, particularly in the Muslim world.

Obama's worst grades were for his handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Of 22 nations polled, in only three, France, Nigeria and Kenya, did the majority of respondents support his approach. Obama administration officials have been concerned about damage to the White House's image in the Muslim world stemming from developments in the Gaza Strip, where Israel, a staunch US ally, has imposed a blockade, citing the need to prevent Hamas militants from obtaining arms.

In Pakistan, the number of Muslims who approve of Obama fell from 13 per cent to 8 per cent over the last year. Among Muslims in Egypt, which receives billions in US aid, support for Obama fell from 41 per cent to 31 per cent, and in Turkey, from 33 per cent to 23 per cent.

Many of those polled said the United States didn't give enough consideration to the views of other countries when making decisions on international issues. The median number who said the United States acts unilaterally was 63 per cent, down slightly from the 67 per cent who used the same description in 2007, when George W. Bush was president.

Cairo speech

The Pew poll touches a sensitive issue for the Obama administration, which has attached great importance to opinion in the Muslim world, as the president demonstrated in his Cairo speech in the fifth month of his presidency.

The high hopes sparked a year ago in the Arab and Muslim worlds have been replaced in many cases with growing disillusionment and anger toward Washington. A recent editorial in Cairo's Al Ahram Weekly said the Obama administration had sorely let down the region.

Philip J. Crowley, the chief State Department spokesman, said Obama's decision to send troops to Afghanistan was "difficult". Shibley Telhami, a specialist on Arab opinion at the University of Maryland, said "it boils down to one issue — the Arab-Israeli conflict."