NEW YORK, Dec 11 (APP): Nearly six-in-10 Americans oppose Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, but the party supporters are evenly divided, according to a new national Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.

Fifty-seven percent of all adults disagree with Trump’s proposal, versus 25 percent who agree, the poll finds.

But views are mixed among Republicans: 42 percent of Republican respondents support Trump’s proposal to ban

Muslims from entering the U.S., while 36 percent oppose it.
And among Republican primary voters, it’s 38 percent support, 39 percent oppose.

By comparison, 75 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents disagree with Trump’s proposal.

There’s an urban-rural divide, too: Just 13 percent of urban respondents and 27 percent of suburban respondents back Trump’s plan, compared with 41 percent of rural Americans.

The WSJ/NBC poll also finds a plurality of Americans — 41 percent — believing that Trump’s general campaign statements are frequently insulting and have the wrong
approach.

By contrast, 24 percent say that Trump’s manner and language might be problematic, but think he’s raising important issues. And 22 percent say that Trump is telling it like it is and has the right approach.

But among Republicans, only 16 percent find him insulting; 37 percent believe he’s raising important issues despite his language; and 40 percent say he’s telling it like it is.

Finally, the poll shows that Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, have a favourable opinion of Muslims — 59 percent positive to 29 percent negative – which is relatively stable on a question dating back to 2002.

But attitudes among Republicans are more negative: 43 percent hold a favorable view of Muslims, versus 48 percent who hold an unfavorable view.

That compared with 75 percent favorable/14 percent unfavorable among Democrats, and 59 percent favorable/25
percent unfavorable among independents.

The full NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Dec. 6-9 of 1,000 adults (including nearly 400 reached by cell phone), and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

The question on Trump’s Muslim proposal was asked Dec. 8-9 of 495 respondents, which has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.4 percentage points.

UNITED NATIONS, Dc 11 (APP): The world economy has fallen below forecasts of even six months ago and will grow only modestly over the next two years due to cyclical and structural headwinds, including low commodity prices and  stagnant investment, the United Nations reported Friday.

“Stronger and more coordinated policy efforts are needed to ensure robust, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, which will be a key determinant for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” UN Assistant Secretary- General of the UN Department of Economic and Social  Affairs, Lenni Montiel said of the ambitious sustainability goals
adopted at a UN summit in September.

Global growth is estimated at a mere 2.4 per cent in 2015, a downward 0.4 percentage-point revision from forecasts presented six months ago, according to the UN World  Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2016.

Amid lower commodity prices, large capital outflows and increased financial market volatility, growth in developing and transition economies has slowed to its weakest pace since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, it noted.

Given the anticipated slowdown in China and persistently weak economic performances in other large emerging  economies, notably the Russia and Brazil, the pivot of global growth is partially shifting again towards developed economies.

The global economy is projected to grow by 2.9 per cent in 2016 and 3.2 per cent in 2017, supported by generally less restrictive fiscal and still accommodative monetary policy stances worldwide, according to the report.

“The expected timing and pace of normalization of the [United States] monetary policy will help reduce some policy uncertainties and provide impetus to revive investment,” Hamid Rashid, Chief of the UN’s Global Economic Monitoring Unit, said in presenting the report.

But preventing excessive volatility and ensuring an orderly  adjustment in asset prices also depends on commodity price stabilization and no further escalation in geo-political conflicts, the report noted.

Identifying five major headwinds, it cited persistent macroeconomic uncertainties; low commodity prices and diminished trade flows; rising volatility in exchange rates and
capital flows; stagnant investment and productivity growth; and a continued disconnect between finance and real sector activities.
Weak growth is also adversely impacting labour markets in developing and transition economies, with unemployment on the rise, especially in South America, or stubbornly high,
as in South Africa.

At the same time, job insecurity is often becoming more entrenched amid a shift from salaried work to self-employment.

With persistent output gaps, modest wage growth and lower commodity prices, global inflation is at its lowest level since 2009. Deflation risks in developed economies have diminished, but not disappeared, particularly in Japan and the euro area.

Growth in developed economies will gain some momentum in 2016, surpassing the 2 per cent mark for the first time since 2010, the report notes.

Economic growth in developing and transition economies is expected to bottom out and gradually recover, but the external environment will continue to be challenging and growth will remain well below its potential.

Monetary authorities need to make concerted efforts to reduce uncertainty and financial volatility, striking a delicate balance between economic growth and financial stability objectives, it stresses.

Given the massive build-up of private debt in many emerging economies, policymakers need to fine-tune their policy mix more active fiscal policies, macro-prudential instruments, targeted labour market policies, among others  amid volatile global financial conditions.

The report highlights that monetary policies did most of the heavy-lifting since the global crisis to support growth but the time has come for fiscal policies to play a greater role.

Well-designed and targeted labour market strategies are needed to complement fiscal policies to re-invigorate productivity, employment generation and output growth.

In a positive note on recent trends in environmental sustainability, it noted that global energy-related carbon emissions showed no growth in 2014 for the first time in 20
years, with the exception of 2009 when the global economy contracted.

This suggests the possibility that the world might start to see some de-linking between economic growth and carbon emission growth.