NOVEMBER 17, 2015

In nations with significant Muslim populations, much disdain for ISIS

BY JACOB POUSHTER 114 COMMENTS
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/17/in-nations-with-significant-muslimpopulations-much-disdain-for-isis/
Recent attacks in
Paris, Beirut and
Baghdad linked to
the Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) have once
again brought
terrorism and
Islamic extremism
to the forefront of
international
relations. According
to newly released
data that the Pew
Research Center
collected in 11
countries with
significant Muslim
populations, people
from Nigeria to Jordan to Indonesia overwhelmingly expressed negative views of ISIS.
One exception was Pakistan, where a majority offered no definite opinion of ISIS. The
nationally representative surveys were conducted as part of the Pew Research Centers
annual global poll in April and May this year.
In no country surveyed did more than 15% of the population show favorable attitudes

toward Islamic State. And in those countries with mixed religious and ethnic populations,
negative views of ISIS cut across these lines.
In Lebanon, a victim of one of the most recent attacks, almost every person surveyed who
gave an opinion had an unfavorable view of ISIS, including 99% with a very unfavorable
opinion. Distaste toward ISIS was shared by Lebanese Sunni Muslims (98% unfavorable)
and 100% of Shia Muslims and Lebanese Christians.
Israelis (97%) and Jordanians (94%) were also strongly opposed to ISIS as of spring
2015, including 91% of Israeli Arabs. And 84% in the Palestinian territories had a
negative view of ISIS, both in the Gaza Strip (92%) and the West Bank (79%).
Six-in-ten or more had unfavorable opinions of ISIS in a diverse group of nations,
including Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Malaysia and Senegal.
In
Nigeria,
there was
somewhat
more
support for
ISIS (14%
favorable)
compared
with other
countries,
but
attitudes
differed
sharply by
religious
affiliation.
An overwhelming number of Nigerian Christians (71%) had an unfavorable view of ISIS,
as did 61% of Nigerian Muslims. However, 20% of Nigerian Muslims had a favorable

view of ISIS when the poll was conducted in the spring of this year. The group Boko
Haram in Nigeria, which has been conducting a terrorist campaign in the country for
years, is affiliated with ISIS, though the two are considered separate entities.
Only 28% in Pakistan had an unfavorable view of ISIS, and a majority of Pakistanis
(62%) had no opinion on the extremist group.
While we did not ask people in Western nations about their views of ISIS, half or more of
people in 15 mostly Western countries said they were very concerned about ISIS as an
international threat. In France, the target of multiple coordinated attacks in Paris last
week, 71% said before the attacks that they were very concerned about the ISIS threat.
Similar shares of the public in other nations also expressed serious concern, including
77% of Spanish, 70% of Germans, 69% of Italians and 68% of Americans. In Lebanon
and Jordan, nations that are taking in refugees from the ISIS conflict in Syria and whose
people have been victims of mass terrorist incidents, 84% and 62% also said they were
very concerned about the group.
General concern about Islamic extremism has been growing in many Western and
predominantly Muslim nations surveyed since earlier in the decade. And as a reaction to
this threat, there was widespread support for U.S. military actions against ISIS in Iraq
and Syria from most of the countries surveyed in the spring, including majorities in Israel
(84%), France (81%), the U.S. (80%), Lebanon (78%), Jordan (77%), the UK (66%) and
Germany (62%).
Note: See here for topline results on views of ISIS in these 11 nations and methodology
.
TOPICS: EUROPE , MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA , MUSLIMS AND
ISLAM , RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM , TERRORISM
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Jacob Poushter is a senior researcher
Research Center.

focusing on global attitudes at Pew