Taylor Pinckney

Middle East Media

el-Nawawy
March 16, 2013
Middle East Media Exercise
Tension and misconceptions have deepened the divide between the East and the West for
many years. Events like the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Iraq war and various other
foreign affairs events like the killing of Osama Bin Laden and involvement in the Arab World
have dramatized the divide between the Western world and the Middle East. The recent events
occurring throughout the Middle East have added to the growing tensions between the East and
the West. Whether or not the stereotypes are fueled by facts or misconceptions, both the East and
the West have various views of the other side. The polls conducted by the Arab American
Institute show the American attitudes towards Arabs and Muslims in 2010, as well as two years
later in 2012. The Arab American Institute also conducted the same polling that surveyed the
Arab attitudes towards the United States in both 2010 and 2012. This polling data provides great
insight into the viewpoints of Americans and Arabs towards the other culture.
In the 2012 polling data that The Arab American Institute received, I found it very
interesting that the results presented a strong partisan divide. I was not surprised by this polling
data, as the Republican and Democratic Party are currently very split on issues. I think that this
strong sense of party polarization is a reason why the United States Congress has not been very
effective as passing legislation, because of the split in the houses. The polling data is
representative of the split country. I think that this polling information indicates that in 2012,
those who identified themselves as Democrats and those who supported Obama were more

racially open. They were polled as being more favorable and open to Arabs and Muslims. The
Republicans were less open, as they voted less favorably about American Americans, Arabs and
Muslims. This is definitely representative of current Republican ideological stances, as they have
been skeptical of President Obama, attacking him as a Muslim. Seeing the racial split of the
polling results of 2012 was also not very surprising to me, as non-whites were more favorable of
Arabs, Arab Americans, and Muslims.
One thing that I found alarming from these results is that most Americans polled said that
they did not know any Arabs or Muslims, but they viewed them unfavorably. If they do not have
any personal relationships with any Arab Americans, Arabs or Muslims than they are not basing
their views on them from previous experiences, which means that they are using other reasoning
to form their viewpoints of them. I would wonder how they form their view of these people, but I
would have to assume that they decided whether or not to rank them favorably based on cultural
stereotypes and how Arab Americans, Arabs, American Muslims and Muslims are portrayed in
the media. One key difference from the polling data of 2012 is that of the 30% who do know
Arabs or Muslims have presented significantly more favorable attitudes toward Arabs, Muslims,
Arab Americans, and American Muslims than those who did not know Muslims or Arabs, or
polled that they were unsure of whether or not they knew any Muslims or Arabs.
The sample size of the adult Americans polled in 2010 was nearly double the sample size
of 2010, which I immediately noticed and feel that this could account for a difference in poll
results. The sample size of 2010 being smaller could make it easier to separate groups and get a
more defined poll result. The sample size of 2010 seems broader, especially since the groups are
identified as Americans and not broken down into racial categories, like the polling of 2012. I
found the second set of data from 2010 interesting as it took Americans and questioned whether

they viewed Arabs and Muslims favorably, but it also dug deeper, asking those polled what the
reasoning behind their opinions was.
I noticed that Arabs were viewed more favorably than Muslims, but that those who
considered themselves Democrats and those who considered themselves Republicans were
polarized in their results, which was consistent with the polling results of 2012. Another huge
difference was that Democrats reported that they would like to learn more about Arab countries,
Muslim and Islam, while Republicans reported that they knew enough information or did not
want to learn more. The Democrats also reported that they felt was important for The White
House to continue reaching out to Arabs and Muslims, while other groups reported that it was
not important. This is once again indicative of huge polarization of current American political
party ideologies. I also found it interesting that Democrats, Independents of Americans ages 1829 viewed Islam more favorably than other groups polled. The difference amongst age groups is
also something that should be considered in further studies.
Interestingly, all three research studies conducted in the Arab World show that the Arab
view of the United States has worsened in recent years. With the election of President Obama,
many in the Arab world were hopeful that their relationship with the United States would
improve because of a change in foreign policy with the Middle East, but anti-American
sentiments have increased. In 2009, the UAE was the only country of the participating Arab
nations in the study that viewed the United States favorably. All countries noted that the IsraeliPalestinian conflict was the major obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East, and Egypt,
Jordan, KSA, Lebanon and Morocco all felt that the United States would not be unbiased in its
entanglement in the conflict. Of the nations polled, the UAE continually ranked more open to the
United States policies and viewed Americans more favorably, but in the 2012 polling results,

even the UAE had an overwhelming unfavorable view of current United States policies towards
the Middle East.