Poll: Obama's Cairo speech has little effect on Muslims' views of America

It may be too early to precisely judge the impact of Obama’s highly-anticipated speech at Egypt’s Cairo University last month, but the Pew poll said that the president’s remarks resulted in lowering Israeli opinions of the United States more than it uplifted Palestinians.

On that day, Obama explored the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, endorsing a two-state solution and urging compromise and understanding between “two peoples with legitimate aspirations.” Obama said it was “undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland.”

“The Cairo effect,” as Pew called it, was this: Among Israelis, a favorable rating of the United States dropped from 76 percent to 63 percent and among Palestinians, it rose slightly from 14 percent to 19 percent.