Another Poll on the Muhammad Cartoons
Somehow, I missed a poll carried out by Gallup and published in Berlingske Tidende on Sunday.
Just as the “Mandag Morgen”-poll and earlier polls, this poll paints a more detailed picture of Danish attitudes. On balance, a relative majority of the population (49% to 43%) found that Jyllands-Posten should not have published “satirical images of the prophet Muhammad”.
It is only among supporters of the Danish People’s Part that a clear majority supports the publication while supporters of the left-wing Unity List, the Socialist Party and the centrist Social Liberal Party are generally critical and Social Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives more or less evenly divided. Berlingske Tidende notes that people over 60 and those living on Sjælland were especially critical of Jyllands-Posten’s decision to print the cartoons.
This picture repeats itself when people were asked if they could understand if Muslims felt insulted by the publications. This view is supported by 56% against 41%.
On the other hand, a majority thought that the debate on freedom of speech had been positive.
Finally, 65% of the respondents found it very likely that Denmark would be the target of terrorist acts performed by Muslim Fundamentalists in the near future. This is down from 75% in July 2005 but up from 52% in September 2004.
And Finally: A Bit of Swede-Bashing
Please allow me a rant to round up the week-end. You see, Swedish media were very quick to report the opinion poll which showed increased support for the Danish People’s Party. But they have been slow to report the more moderate findings.
Why?
Well, during the last weeks Swedish media have been full of news stories and columns depicting the Danes as a bunch of xenophobic crypto-fascists (yes, I have been collecting news items). And we wouldn’t want to do anything that just might disturb that cozy picture, would we?
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