Poll: Iranian opinion of U.S. down five points since last year
posted at 6:52 pm on June 8, 2009 by Allahpundit
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He promised you change, didn’t he?
Few Iranians have favorable opinions of the United States, a view that has changed little since the election of an American president who has expressed a willingness to talk to Tehran, a rare poll of Iranian citizens showed Monday…
Just 29 percent of Iranians said they have favorable views of the United States in the latest poll, which was conducted last month. In a similar survey in February 2008 — nearly a year before Barack Obama became president — 34 percent had positive opinions about the U.S…
Iran’s media is largely controlled by the government, though the Iranian people increasingly have access to the Internet. That makes it hard to gauge how much information Iranians have received about Obama and his repeated statements that he is open to talks in hopes of improving relations.
“How much of Obama’s message has been broadcast to them, I have no idea,” said Ken Ballen, president of Terror Free Tomorrow.
The full report is worth a scroll-through. On the subject of the famous supposed moderation of the Iranian people relative to their leaders, note well:
Remember, the crux of Obama’s strategic disagreement with Netanyahu is whether dealing with Iran first will lead to Israeli/Palestinian peace later (the Israeli position) or whether peace between Israel and Palestine first will make it easier to deal with Iran later (the American position). Eyeball that graph again and tell me who’s right.
As for the all-important nuclear question, it’s a mixed bag. There’s room for negotiation, especially along the lines of a grand bargain, and atomic energy is more important than weapons, but we’ve already got majority support here for an Iranian bomb.
The presidential election’s Friday and Ahmadinejad’s “pragmatist” opponents are pulling out the stops to make him look like the fundie nut that he is, but given Iranian popular support for a bomb plus the fact that a more moderate leadership will feel pressure to prove that they can be tough with America too, what are the odds that Iran’s going to want to negotiate any time soon even if Ahmadinejad loses?
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So many charts, so little time
Too bad for Barry O: Now he might not be able to run for Iranian prez after his re-election defeat in 2012
Janos Hunyadi on June 8, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Millions are “few”?
jgapinoy on June 8, 2009 at 6:55 PM
strong horse, meet weak horse.
it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
homesickamerican on June 8, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Didn’t they get the memo our presidents middle name is “Hussein?”
Maybe he should switch it to Mohammad.
Joe Caps on June 8, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Flashback: Hillary!
SouthernGent on June 8, 2009 at 6:57 PM
It looks like the Iranians see past his trendy skin color. That is something Americans couldn’t do. Of course, in Iran, his skin color isn’t trendy.
keep the change on June 8, 2009 at 6:59 PM
It’s hopeful, but not promising. This insane obsession at wanting to obliterate Israel is disconcerting. However, I have to wonder, how much of this is based on fear of the regime that currently runs Iran?
capejasmine on June 8, 2009 at 7:01 PM
Ogabe will bend over for the mullahs and all will be made well again.
Bishop on June 8, 2009 at 7:03 PM
We owe the world an apology for electing such a pathetic leader.
seven on June 8, 2009 at 7:06 PM
I thought Obmam’s(Neville Chamberlains)speech in Cairo
was going to change Mulims minds!!
canopfor on June 8, 2009 at 7:08 PM
My big brother served two tours in Iraq. He told me, “There’s only one thing militant Arabs respect: strength. They may hate you. They may even want to kill you. But if you’re as tough and mean as they are, they’ll respect you. If you’re weak, as far as they’re concerned you’re the lowest kind of man that can exist, lower than a farm animal.” I found that interesting. Obama understands nothing about coming at bullies from a position of strength. It’s kind of like raising children: You don’t have to beat the hell out of them when they step out of line, but they need to believe that you will.
Rational Thought on June 8, 2009 at 7:08 PM
I’m sorry I thought they were having an election for a government mouthpiece I didn’t know they were replacing the mullahs with a liberal democracy…wait…what..moderate? who?
elduende on June 8, 2009 at 7:09 PM
The Obama Apology for Obama World Tour!!!!
I like the sound of that.
BigWyo on June 8, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Part of the reason why the US is less popular in the Muslim world in general I think is that Obama’s “Muslimism.”
We have those in the Middle East who see Obama as a Muslim brother and now they feel betrayed by him because he has not been as anti-Israel as they had hoped.
We also have those who see Obama as a denier of his faith, a Muslim who either falsely denies being a Muslim or a Christian who turned his back on Allah.
DarkKnight3565 on June 8, 2009 at 7:12 PM
We also have a weak effete bastard leading us in a place that respects strength.
elduende on June 8, 2009 at 7:13 PM
All I can say is that Iranian opinions of the US don’t concern me in the least. Iran is a threat and that’s all I care about. Tehran should have been turned to glass in 1979 and that work will eventually have to be done. Let the Iranians chew on that for a while.
progressoverpeace on June 8, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Thank goodness Israel has nukes too. Better ones at that.
Israel also has anti ballistic missile technology, as well as a crack air force.
You tell me who will win that fight, then does it really matter if Iran has a nuke if it’s shot out of the sky before it lands?
This all with the assumption that our jerkoff in chief is going to underhandedly help the Iranians get the bomb because he hates Israel that much.
Spiritk9 on June 8, 2009 at 7:15 PM
The bottom line,is that the Muslim world
wants Israel to dissappear!
While Obama is fixated on the Two State
Solution as the key,the nutjobs want,as
a pre-condition,for Israel not to exist!!
————————————
Dealing with the nutjobs for the Middle East,
is the same attitude as ‘Independence Day movie’,
where the President asks,if there can be a co-
existence,and the(Alien) Jihady nutjobs response,
“Just Die” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
canopfor on June 8, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Give it a rest. Iran is a savage nation that constitutes a real threat to the civilized world. That will have to be dealt with, no matter how many Iranians you believe are enamored with the West. Life’s tough, and nature does not suffer fools gladly.
progressoverpeace on June 8, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Darwin at his finest!
Spiritk9 on June 8, 2009 at 7:18 PM
Meaning that they are currently supporting Armed Groups in Iraq, and have been…………
…………….. Don’t we still have a couple of troops in Iraq?
Seven Percent Solution on June 8, 2009 at 7:20 PM
This poll MUST have been taken before Obama-Mideast-Hope-Change-Tour…
Upstater85 on June 8, 2009 at 7:20 PM
Savages and barbarians respect strength. That’s all they respect.
madne0 on June 8, 2009 at 7:22 PM
As a plank-holder in Iraq myself I can say that your brother is absolutely correct. The Arab/middle eastern/Islamic culture does not respect people who appear weak and indecisive. They are complete hypocrites when it comes to this philosophy, but then again that part of the world has never made any sense to me no matter how hard I try. You just can’t always overcome cultural differences.
And I don’t give a damn what Iran thinks of us.
gator70 on June 8, 2009 at 7:22 PM
Oh Boy,that should be Obama,not Obmam`s!Le Ugh!
canopfor on June 8, 2009 at 7:22 PM
So much for that whole most Iranians actually like Amercia stuff.
BOMBS AWAY!
ThePrez on June 8, 2009 at 7:27 PM
62% of them are unwilling to stop fighting until Isreal no longer exists but Democrats feel more need to pander to these people than to work with half of the people in the USA.
When you worry so much about what every other lunatic county’s people think of you, you can be sure it won’t be long util your own country can’t stand you. Oh, and in the meantime, that other country’s people still won’t like you.
Scrappy on June 8, 2009 at 7:29 PM
I think, what throws a lot of Westerners about the middle east is the fact that there is no such thing as “goodwill” out there. You can do someone a favor and the next minute he stabs you in the butt. We tend to think in terms of building up relationships that last over time, but out there, it’s all about today and who is the best person to ally with today. It doesn’t matter if someone had been a trusted partner for 1000 years, if there is some minor advantage to be had by turning on him today, then that’s what will happen.
I think that honor killings illustrate this point. Just because of some minor offense (often not even the fault of the girl) a father, or brothers, will kill the girl with little thought or emotion. Those are the sorts of personalities at work out there. Very alien stuff.
Many in the US still haven’t learned this, as we are deluding ourselves into thinking that the Iraqis will be grateful to us for what we have done for them … It just doesn’t work that way.
I’m with you.
progressoverpeace on June 8, 2009 at 7:30 PM
B-b-but
Ah… never mind. Let’s keep pumping more and more into these barbarians.
Upstater85 on June 8, 2009 at 7:32 PM
I wonder how the numbers would go if Petraeus was POTUS in 2013? Just a thought.
ThePrez on June 8, 2009 at 7:33 PM
My impression is that they see America under Obama as being “Wusses,” putting it as nicely as I can.
Star20 on June 8, 2009 at 7:34 PM
We will learn, eventually, and the next time we have to go back there we’ll just take the oil fields and leave the Iraqis to run around in the desert. … assuming the US still exists, of course. Otherwise, the Texas-aligned states that have split off, to carry on the principles of our Founders, will have to go in and do that job.
progressoverpeace on June 8, 2009 at 7:39 PM
The Obama formula:
1 Obsequious speech in Cairo makes Muslims even more contemptuous of America.
2 Blame Bush for the drop in popularity.
3 Promise to make more obsequious speeches in the future followed (or preceded by) obsequious deeds-such as throwing friends and allies under the bus (those tires must be permanently stained red by now).
4 Repeat above cycle 1-2-3 ad infinitum.
MaiDee on June 8, 2009 at 7:41 PM
The last graph has a major scale problem. Is there a typo in the percentage reported, or is the graph that interested in showing a 2% raw differential??
Otherwise, interesting and predictable result.
knob on June 8, 2009 at 7:44 PM
What’s that? The Iranians have not got the Obama fever?
Terrye on June 8, 2009 at 7:50 PM
My opinion of the Iranians remains at an all time low, but no one asks me what I think of them.
hip shot on June 8, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Oh NOOOOOOOOO! Say it isn’t so.
oakpack on June 8, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Well, strangely enough the mystery of why Muslims do as they do can be solved easily enough. Scan the Qu’ran. You don’t have to become a respected Muslim scholar to understand it, just read it with the knowledge that you are among the unbelievers who are spoken of so often.
You are never too old to educate yourself, especially when the people who should explain and protect you from your enemy actually shield them and discourages inquirers of the truth.
BL@KBIRD on June 8, 2009 at 8:02 PM
But now, she’s doing exactly that for him.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on June 8, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Nuclear power for thee, but not for me!
As Rush said today, we given Iran permission to go nuclear and we get crappy windmills from GE! What is not to love?
Right. And if one did that then one might question the selection of the verses Obama quoted. One would question the enunciation of the wording. And one might come to the conclusion; we are in serious pooh!
freeus on June 8, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Thought everyone was supposed to love us now that Big 0 was in charge…
SuperCool on June 8, 2009 at 8:50 PM
So the Iranians liked Chimpy better than they like the cool half-black guy who eats Spam sushi whenever he’s not chowing down on Wagyu beef. Works for me.
Wow, this has been a bad day for our poll-obsessed friends on the Lefy, hasn’t it?
Del Dolemonte on June 8, 2009 at 8:53 PM
You have some really screwy charts up there; look at the scale for the third chart; there is a 2 percent difference between the 2nd and 3rd bars, and a 9% difference between the 1st and 2nd.
I would not trust this source. I flipped through it a little more and there are similar “mistakes.”
Rowsdower on June 8, 2009 at 9:04 PM
How much weight can we really give a poll taken in a totalitarian country run by the Hitler wanna-be Akhmedinnadinnerjacket.
This is like Himler sending out the Gestapo and taking a poll of Germans in 1939, asking them what they thought of Jews.
-Dave
Dave R. on June 8, 2009 at 9:15 PM
The hate everyone not like them, but they respect strong enemies.
Thus the resurgence of militant Islam under Carter, and we’re seeing it start again under Obama.
Gee, thanks, Mr. Obama, but we thought you meant hope for us.
Merovign on June 8, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Next time they can ask how they feel about France banning the “hajib.”
PattyJ on June 8, 2009 at 10:03 PM
52% – want a bomb
72% – guarantee no bomb in return for assistance with peaceful nuclear energy.
If 52% really favor a bomb, then 72% can’t favor assistance for non-bomb uses.
Phoenician on June 9, 2009 at 1:10 AM
We are constantly told how “intelligent” the populace of Iran
is but when the MSM worship of Obama is not carried through, all of a sudden they can’t think for themselves.
These numbers reflect what much of the Arab world thinks and has thought for decades.
The only difference is that the press can’t understand why they are not under Obama’s spell like they are.
It’s called reality you bunch of Pravda idiots.
Baxter Greene on June 9, 2009 at 2:05 AM
Is it naive to believe that there are people and nations who do not like us merely because we exist?
Is it naive to believe that no matter what we do to ameliorate problems there will still be those who’d much rather see us gone than to be hanging around trying to appease them?
Our being a free and market-oriented nation [for the time being...and time is slipping away] wherein liberty and individual rights are paramount [for how long?] is sufficient for many other nations, and hundreds of millions of people, to view us as a “threat” to them.
Appeasement has only one conclusion…the subjugation of those who chose to appease.
Either we stand up for what has made us a great Nation, a great people, fully, without reservation, or we chose to be just like them, with no regard for the individual, no regard for the rule of law, no regard for the fundamentals that made us a great Nation, and kow-tow before those same nations who’d like to see us destroyed.
coldwarrior on June 9, 2009 at 5:05 AM
OT: when I look at that picture, all I see is “Jerk.” Total jerk. Just some guy with ideas of personal grandeur who uses others and is being used to further a really bad, perpetual vision for world control. Such a maniacal jerk, basically.
He might be THE president but he is not A president. It make sense in my head. :o)
Mommypundit on June 9, 2009 at 5:25 AM
It’s getting worse while it’s getting worse.
Given the powers that be, though I wish there could be peace, I can only hope each morning that whatever transient peace we have at the moment will last a bit longer.
Every non-Muslim non-Marxist American who has lived, worked, taught or even fought amidst the good and bad people in Islam knows that in their Islamic lives, an individual fighting authority is futile. Even in revolution, you might exchange one dictator for another, but the grunt is always expendable and makes no decisions; so grunts exist within their tribal or sect alliance and serve unquestioning. That status quo is what GWBush actually momentarily destabilized, even if only long enough for the hearts and minds of people across-sections to form their new alliance against any terrorist tyrant, preferring democratic secret ballot vote. But that is Iraq, and only for a time in Iraq, not Iran.
We have no place in Khomeini’s Iran. So long as Khomeini rules, we have no place in Iran. What all of Islam knows is that American policy with them has always been based upon petroleum interests. Our American inability to maintain any consistent relationship with Middle Eastern Muslim countries is our bane to bear. With each administration, whatever alliances were established are destroyed whether by neglect or by overt sabotage by the new administration. Now Obama, the Narcissistic malleable Pantywaist passive aggressive combative weenie, has made himself and presented himself as Islam’s new Toy, which as a private individual he would have the right to make of himself; BUT NOT AS POTUS.
maverick muse on June 9, 2009 at 7:13 AM
Are you kidding? They want to give us a medal for it. He’s doing to this country what they could only dream of doing themselves.
xblade on June 9, 2009 at 8:20 AM
The puppet government we have right now cannot sustain itself forever. Alexrod and Emanuel can only work ChimpyO’s mouth to a limited extent. Greasy Joe was put in there to make ChimpyO’s incompetence appear as wisdom.
BUT, as we have seen lately, the facade is starting to crumble and it wont be too long before the MSM starts comparing him to Carter.
csdeven on June 9, 2009 at 8:41 AM
You reckon 5% of Iranians are closet Bush fans, maybe?
cackcon on June 9, 2009 at 9:33 AM
All this hope and change nonsense…
Those of us who understand what’s going on are longing for Bush. I’d take President “I killed the free market to save the free market” over President “I killed the free market to give Brian Williams and orgasm” any day of the week. We could at least be confident in our safety back then.
And perhaps those who are in Bambi’s pocket will someday begin to understand that just about everything he says is paraphrased from Bush’s speeches, especially when we’re talking about U.S. relations with Muslim countries. And that says nothing about his surprisingly Bush-like policy concessions.
So even though GWB is out of the political spotlight, he’s still hanging over everything, especially with Bambi blaming him for every stubbed toe and scabby knee. Fifty-two percent of our nation’s people voted this guy in to avoid Bush’s
fourththird term, but they got it anyway.TouchingTophet on June 9, 2009 at 10:40 AM
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