Monday October 06th, 2008             A project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland

US 'War on Terror' Has Not Weakened al Qaeda, Says Global Poll


BBCPresidential_Sep08_img.jpgThe US's 'war on terror' has failed to weaken its prime target al Qaeda, according to people in 22 out of 23 countries surveyed in a new poll for the BBC World Service.

On average only 22 per cent believe that al Qaeda has been weakened, while three in five believe that it has either had no effect (29%) or made al Qaeda stronger (30%).

And while negative views of al Qaeda are most common in nearly all of the countries surveyed, this is not the case in Egypt and Pakistan - both pivotal nations in the conflict with al Qaeda.

(Photo: NCTC)

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McCain and Obama Supporters Largely Agree on Approaches to Energy, Climate Change


WPO_Energy_US-only_img.jpgA new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds the majority of supporters of John McCain and Barack Obama largely agree on how to deal with both the country's energy needs and the problem of climate change.

Supporters of both candidates favor a greater emphasis on alternative energy sources such as wind and solar and on modifying buildings to make them more energy-efficient. They also favor requiring businesses to use energy more efficiently, even if this might make some products more expensive. Both groups reject putting more emphasis on building coal or oil-fired power plants. A modest majority of McCain supporters, though, favor more emphasis on nuclear energy, while most Obama supporters do not.

(Photo credit: trochej)

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WPO Video

World Publics Reject Torture - Release Event June 24, 2008

Archived video - RealPlayer required

Steven Kull, Director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, presents the findings of an international poll on torture at the United Nations in advance of the International Day in support of Victims of Torture (June 26). In addition Kull presents an overview of the findings of the larger study on different aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the polling on torture is a part. Yvonne Terlingen of Amnesty International; and Craig Mokhiber from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights provide their commentary on the results.