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Public Critical of European Newspapers Showing Mohammed Cartoon

Public Critical of European Newspapers Showing Mohammed Cartoon

by David W. Moore

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- A solid majority of Americans believe the European newspapers that printed the cartoon of Mohammed acted "irresponsibly," according to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. But an equally large majority also believes that the controversy is less about Western nations' lack of respect for Islam than about Muslims' intolerance of different viewpoints. And a majority of Americans also believe the U.S. news media have an obligation to print controversial items even if they offend some people's religious views.

The poll, conducted Feb. 9-12, finds 56% of Americans saying they have been following this issue either "very" closely (21%) or "somewhat" closely (35%). Forty-three percent have not been following the issue closely, including 18% who have not been following it all.

As you may know, several newspapers in Europe recently printed cartoons showing Mohammed, the founder of Islam, in ways that offended the religious views of many Muslims. How closely have you been following the news about this -- very closely, somewhat closely, not too closely, or not at all?

Very
closely

Somewhat
closely

Not too
closely

Not
at all

No
opinion

2006 Feb 9-12

21%

35

25

18

1

When asked if the European newspapers that printed the cartoons acted responsibly or not, 61% said they did not act responsibly, while only 29% said they did.

Do you think the European newspapers that printed those cartoons acted responsibly or irresponsibly?

Responsibly

Irresponsibly

No opinion

%

%

%

Overall

29

61

10

Follow very closely

44

52

4

Follow somewhat closely

35

59

5

Not follow closely

18

67

15

Americans' views appear to be affected by how closely they have been following the news about the issue. The less attention paid, the more likely people are to think the European newspapers were irresponsible. People who have followed it most closely are almost evenly divided in their assessment, with 44% saying the press was responsible and 52% saying it was not. But 67% of people not following the issue closely say the press acted irresponsibly, while just 18% take the opposite position.

Though Americans may be critical of the European newspapers, they are more likely to blame Muslims' intolerance for the controversy (61%) than they are to blame Western nations' lack of respect (21%).

Overall, do you think this controversy is due more to -- [ROTATED: Western nations' lack of respect for the Islamic religion, (or due more to) Muslims' intolerance of different points of view]?

Western nations' lack of respect
for Islam

Muslims'
intolerance of different viewpoints

BOTH (vol.)

NEITHER (vol.)

No
opinion

%

%

%

%

%

Overall

21

61

6

2

9

Follow very closely

16

73

6

4

2

Follow somewhat closely

20

69

5

2

5

Not follow closely

25

49

8

2

15

(vol.) = Volunteered response

Americans who are paying the most attention to the issue are also the most likely to blame Muslim intolerance (73%) for the controversy, while people who are paying the least attention are least likely to blame the Muslims (49%).

As a general principle, a majority of Americans, 57%, say the U.S. news media have an obligation to show controversial items that are newsworthy, even if they may offend the religious views of some people. Thirty-three percent disagree.

Which comes closer to your view -- [ROTATED: the U.S. news media have an obligation to show controversial items that are newsworthy even if they may offend the religious views of some people, (or) the U.S. news media have an obligation to avoid offending the religious views of some people even if that prevents them from showing controversial items that are newsworthy]?

Obligation to show controversial
items

Obligation to avoid
offending religious
views of some people


No
opinion

%

%

%

Overall

57

33

10

Some college or more

67

26

7

High school or less

43

43

14

Attend church weekly

52

38

11

Attend nearly weekly/Monthly

57

35

8

Attend less often/Not at all

63

28

9

Republicans

68

24

8

Independents

51

35

13

Democrats

55

38

7

There are no significant differences among people by how closely they have been following the cartoon issue, but there are significant differences by education. People with a high school education or less are evenly divided as to the press' obligation on such matters, while those with at least some college education are in favor of showing the controversial items by 67% to 26%.

Church attendance is less strongly correlated with the issue, but there is an 11-point difference on showing the controversial items between weekly churchgoers (52%) and the infrequent churchgoers (63%).

The partisan gap is also modest, with 68% of Republicans, but just 55% of Democrats, wanting the press to show controversial items that could offend religious people.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 9-12, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

For results based on the 492 national adults in the Form A half-sample and 508 national adults in the Form B half-sample, the maximum margins of sampling error are ±5 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/21427/Public-Critical-European-Newspapers-Showing-Mohammed-Cartoon.aspx
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