Yahoo! Maktoob Research, in collaboration with InterMedia Survey Institute in Washington DC, announces the results of its latest poll among 937 respondents from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The poll is exploring the Arab World’s views on the outcomes of the recent Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which took place at the end April 2010. President Obama had invited more than 200 entrepreneurs from the Muslim world to a Washington DC summit as part of a program to encourage innovation and growth in Muslim countries, billing it as a “new beginning” in relations between the United States and the Muslim world.

The Yahoo! Maktoob Research poll shows that Arabs are quite informed when it comes to US activities involving the Muslim world, as almost six out of ten respondents (62%) were aware of U.S. President Obama’s speech to Muslim entrepreneurs, out of which significantly more men and Egyptians.

Less than three out of ten respondents (26%) believe that the United States is either very or somewhat committed to improving economic conditions in the Muslim World. Out of the countries surveyed, believability seems to be the lowest among Jordanians.

And the same percentage is being achieved when asking how optimistic Arabs are that the United States will be able to help improve economic conditions in the Muslim World. Just a bit more than a quarter (26%) is very or somewhat optimistic. Men, North African and Levant Nationals are least optimistic.

The largest percentage of respondents (82%) states that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most important issue for the United States to address to prove its commitment to improving relations with individual citizens in the Muslim World.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in ranking being followed by far by democracy and justice in the Muslim World (40%) and the war in Iraq (37%). The other issues are being ranked as follows: human rights (29%), nuclear proliferation (27%), economic development/jobs (24%), religious freedom (24%) and women’s rights (3%). On average three main issues are being mentioned by the respondents.

A larger number of women seem to be concerned about the war in Iraq (45% versus 35%) and religious freedom (34% versus 20%) compared to their male counterparts.