Indians are sure terror cannot destroy democracy: poll

NEW DELHI: Indians appear to be more optimistic than rest of the world in their belief that terrorism cannot destroy democracy, a recent poll has revealed.

While more than half (over 58 per cent) of the people polled worldwide by global research company Synovate for the BBC World believed that terrorism could destroy democracy, just about 49 per cent of Indians shared their fear.
   
Of this too, less than 34 per cent Indians "strongly" believed in the doom of democracy through terrorism, who were rather timidly supported by about 15 per cent who said they "somewhat" believed in terror's destructive power.

This figure was set off by 31 per cent who said they "strongly disagreed" that terrorism could destroy democracy.

The broadcaster had quizzed more than 12,000 people in 15 countries across the world over the questions of democracy vis a vis terrorism, climate change, religion, importance of voting, and global parliament.
   
The most overwhelming response came from France where 76 per cent of the people believe terror could finish democracy, followed by Denmark (74.8), USA (69.5) and South Africa (64.3).
   
Notable support to this came from the Arab state of UAE where 71.7 per cent said democracy could fall at the hands of terrorists.
   
Indians also seem to be taking the ballot very seriously with as many as 76.4 per cent of respondents saying they believed participating in national elections was "very important". This was way ahead of the global average of 62.4 per cent who believed voting was important.
   
But French, Danes, South Africans and Americans still proved more serious about voting with more than 82 per cent in France, 78.5 per cent in Denmark, 77.3 per cent in South Africa and 77.1 per cent in USA saying they took national elections very seriously.
   
To a question on how likely would one support the formation of a global parliament, where votes are based on a country's population size and makes binding policies for the world, the response was muted.
   
But here too India took the lead with as high as 38.3 per cent mooting the idea of global parliament. This was against the global mean of 14.4 per cent who thought it was a very good idea. As many as 23.1 per cent said they would support, but with reservations.
   
However, 18.8 per cent respondents doubted if they would support the idea but said it might work, nevertheless.
   
But 19.1 per cent were sure they will not support it and thought it was a bad idea.
  
Despite ills associated with religion, as many as 67.6 per cent of respondents said religion was important to them. Here too, India led all with 91.9 per cent saying religion forms an integral part of their existence, followed by UAE with 91.0 per cent.
   
On the other hand, against the global mean of 5.6 per cent saying religion was "not important at all" to them, as high as 15 per cent in Denmark fell in this category, followed by Norway (13.8), France(11.3) and Germany(10.3).
   
France also remain at the bottom rung of believers with only 10.6 per saying religion was "very important" and 27.5 per cent saying "quite important."
   
In India people who said they cared least about religion were 1.8 per cent, which was still higher than USA (0.7) and UAE (0.2).
   
To the question whether the communist state of China or democratic state of USA was better equipped to combat climate change, the respondents polled heavily in favour of the US with 57.3 per cent votes against 21.5 per cent in favour of China.
   
India's response has been muted with just 39.7 per cent saying USA was better equipped to tackle climate change and 18.4 per cent choosing China. A large section comprising 41.9 per cent was not sure of the either.