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(CNSNews.com) -- A new poll tracking Muslim opinions on suicide bombing, Osama bin Laden and attitudes towards Christians and Jews is being interpreted as good news, although it shows that substantial minorities in some Muslim countries still have highly controversial views.

"Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past," said the Pew Global Attitudes Project Thursday. "Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam."

Some headlines reflected the upbeat assessment: "Muslims Shift from Violence," said the International Herald Tribune. "Survey Shows Support for Bin Laden Waning in Islamic Countries," stated the Los Angeles Times, while the Washington Post declared: "Poll Finds Drop in Muslim Support for Terrorism."

Although the focus was on shifts that have been recorded since 2002, the new figures standing on their own nonetheless call into question assertions that only tiny minorities of Muslims favor violence.

Support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence against civilian targets had "declined significantly," Pew reported.

But the new figures show that 57 of respondents in Jordan said such acts were justified "often/sometimes." Another 31 percent said "rarely" and only 11 percent said "never."

In Pakistan "only" one-in-four respondents support suicide bombings "often/sometimes," said Pew, down from 33 percent in 2002.

In Lebanon, too, the figure had dropped significantly, from 73 percent supporting suicide bombings "often/sometimes" in 2002. Nonetheless, 39 percent of respondents in the new poll still hold that view.

The "often/sometimes" group for the remaining three countries surveyed was also larger than 10 percent in each case (Indonesia, 15 percent; Turkey, 14 percent; and Morocco, 13 percent).

When it came to suicide bombings targeting the U.S. and its allies in Iraq, those believing them to be justifiable ranged from almost one-quarter (24 percent) in Turkey to more than one-in-two (56 percent) in Morocco.

Asked how much confidence they had in bin Laden doing "the right thing regarding world affairs," only 10 percent of respondents in Indonesia, 12 percent in Pakistan and 18 percent in Jordan responded "none." In Morocco the figure was 40, in Turkey 73 and in Lebanon 78.

The percentage of those who said they had "a lot/some" confidence in the al-Qaeda terrorist leader were: Jordan 60 percent, Pakistan 51, Indonesia 35, Morocco 26, Turkey 7 and Lebanon 2.

Another question gauged attitudes towards Christians and Jews.

Respondents with "unfavorable" views of Christians ranged from 38 percent in Indonesia to 63 percent in Turkey. (Lebanon, the standout with only seven percent unfavorable, has a large Christian population.)

Even more marked were those with unfavorable views of Jews - ranging from 60 percent in Turkey to 100 percent in Jordan (Pakistan 74, Indonesia 76, Morocco 88 and Lebanon 99.)

By contrast, a majority of respondents surveyed in eight Western countries -- the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Russia -- said they had favorable views of Muslims. Only in the ninth Western nation surveyed, Poland, did that figure dip below 50 percent.

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