Osama bin Laden’s popularity in Muslim countries was on the decline in the months leading up to his killing, according to the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project.
Pew surveyed Muslims from six nations in late March and early April and found that bin Laden, who enjoyed majority support in some countries as of a few years ago, was now lucky to maintain double-digit approval.
The Al Qaeda leader had the confidence of 34 percent of Palestinians (down from 72 percent in 2003), 26 percent of Indonesians (down from 59 percent in 2003), 22 percent of Egyptians (down from 27 percent in 2006, though up from 18 percent in 2007), 13 percent of Jordanians (down from 56 percent in 2003), 3 percent of Turks (down from 15 percent in 2003), and just 1 percent of Lebanese (down from 19 percent in 2003). 2011 results were not released for Nigeria and Pakistan, though results from 2010 showed 48 percent and 18 percent approval, respectively (down in Pakistan’s case, slightly up in Nigeria’s).
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