Donald Trump's claim that "Islam hates us" has been discredited by research that shows most Muslims have a favourable opinion of America.

The Republican frontrunner's comments were made during a CNN interview on Friday. He said: "There is a tremendous hatred of us."

However Trump failed to make the distinction between radical Islamists and mainstream Islam. When asked whether he thought all Muslims hated America he said: "You're going to have to figure that out," before going on to emphasise the "tremendous hatred".

But the Pew Research Center has revealed there is little anti-American sentiment in Muslim countries.

"We tend to see more negative sentiment among Muslims in the Middle East, such as those from Egypt and Jordan," said Pew's director of global economic attitudes, Bruce Stokes.

"But Muslims outside the Middle East generally have a more positive outlook."

Countries such as Burkina Faso and Senegal, which have an overwhelming Muslim population, view the USA favourably (80 per cent and 79 per cent respectively), the 2015 research showed. 

Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, has a broadly positive opinion of America with 62 per cent saying they viewed the country favourably.

Muslim countries in the Middle East tend to have more negative views of the US with 83 per cent of those in Jordan and 70 per cent in Palestine viewing America unfavourably. However there has been a "gradual rise in positive sentiment since President Barack Obama came to power," said Stokes.

"Even in the Palestinian Territories, where sentiment is 70 per cent unfavourable, that's an improvement on 82 per cent in Barack Obama's first year," he said.

Pew data pointed to anti-American feeling spiking around key political events. In Pakistan it spiked in 2011, the year a US raid killed Osama Bin Laden.