Americans back Bethlehem - but not sure where it is

[Scurrilous]

Two Nation survey: America vs Bethlehem

<snip>

"Most Americans believe Bethlehem is an Israeli town inhabited by a mixture of Jews and Muslims, a pre-Christmas survey of US perceptions of the town has shown.

Only 15 per cent of Americans realise that it is a Palestinian city with a mixed Christian-Muslim community, lying in the occupied West Bank.

Click here for full survey results

The nationwide survey, carried out by top US political pollsters Zogby International, canvassed 15000 American respondents. The poll was commissioned by the campaign organisation Open Bethlehem to coincide with a survey carried out in Bethlehem itself – canvassing 1000 respondents from the three urban centres of Bethlehem, where the population splits almost equally between Muslims and Christians.

The surveys have put the spotlight on the plight of the town, which has been fast losing its indigenous Christian population since the construction of the Israeli wall plunged Bethlehem into economic crisis.

The two surveys show that American perceptions of the town are wildly at odds with the perceptions of those who live there."

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[azurnoir]

1. The American survey results

represent the just how effective the right-wing media campaign to present Islam as being at "war" with both christianity and Judaism has been. As this survey shows that is not quite the story.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. I got that Zogby survey in my email, and filled it out.

I thought all the questions on Bethlehem were kind of bizzare. They also wanted to know my opinion of Oklahoma and NASCAR.

[Violet_Crumble]

3. That comes as no surprise...

Geographic slap-dashedness isn't anything new when it comes to anything outside the US. I met a few Americans recently who confused Austria and Australia...