Do the Right Thing

I posted on a news report regarding this poll a few days ago, but I hadn't actually seen the actual Pew poll results and analysis. I have only read bits and pieces of the analysis, but some of the data sets are fascinating. Here are two:
Note that in the above table, Israel is the only country to show a decrease, and that only 1%. The error in these sorts of polls are generally in the range of 3%, so the change in that instance is probably not even significant. Whether it is or not, it's certainly not substantive.

In the table below, it would be interesting to know the particular dates at which the 2001 and 2002 data sets were collected. Pre- or Post- 9/11? Early 2002, when we still had a lot of international sympathy, or later in the year when the war drums to invade Iraq were pounder ever louder? Still, I found the trends interesting to look at.
However frustrated I may be with the progress on a variety of issues, I do need to keep reminding myself that I now live under a government in which progress (into the future, as opposed to progressing backward toward the 1890's) is at least possible. And that we are making progress on some important fronts.