South Africans View US and China

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published on 1 October 2015 an analysis titled "Take Your Cue from Pew" by Peter Fabricius, ISS consultant.  He writes that while the South African government increasingly demonstrates its preference for China over the United States, South African public opinion has a different view.  Some 74 percent of South Africans view the US favorably while only 52 percent are as well disposed towards China, according to a poll taken by the Pew Research Center in May 2015. 

Christianity and Islam in Africa

The highly respected Pew Research Center has published a series of reports on religion that add to our knowledge about the subject in Africa. In 2010, it published a study titled "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa." The study noted that while sub-Saharan Africa has almost twice as many Christians as Muslims, on the entire African continent the two faiths are roughly balanced with 400 to 500 million followers each. Since northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is heavily Christian, the great meeting place is in the middle, a 4,500-mile swath from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west. Click here to read the study on sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2011, the Pew Research Center published a report titled "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population." Click here to read the report.

The Pew Research Center's most recent contribution appeared on 9 August 2012 and is titled "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity." Click here to read the executive summary.

International Views of US and Other Countries

The highly respected Pew Research Center released on 13 June 2012 its report titled Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted: Drone Strikes Widely Opposed. While the full report documents less criticism of US policies and President Obama than the title implies, it identifies a number of worrisome areas.

The survey is based on research in 20 countries, only two of which are in Africa: Egypt and Tunisia.

The report has the following sections:

--Views of the US and American foreign policy.

--Attitudes towards American culture and ideas.

--Global opinion of Barack Obama.

--Rating countries and institutions.

--Rating world leaders.

Click here to access the full report.