New Middle East Polling Data

A briefing by Adam Pechter

August 13, 2009

http://www.meforum.org/2439/new-middle-east-polling-data

(includes an audio recording of this talk)

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Adam Pechter, a former deputy publisher of the Middle East Quarterly, has founded Pechter Middle East Polls to gather current views in Egypt and Jordan. Mr. Pechter graduated from Yale College, Vanderbilt Law School and John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he wrote a master's thesis on Arab political polling. On August 13, Mr. Pechter addressed the Middle East Forum via conference call.

Mr. Pechter began his talk by pointing out the importance of opinion-polling across the Arab world, including its impact on U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Middle East. For example, U.S. Information Agency polls in Syria and Egypt were used to prompt their respective governments to provide troop support to liberate Kuwait in the First Gulf War.

Regardless, Mr. Pechter notes numerous problems with polls conducted in the Arab world today, such as the fact that biased polling companies often rely on less than objective methodology to create sensationalist headlines, or push hidden agendas.

Hence, Pechter and David Pollock carried out their first surveys in Egypt and Jordan at the time of Obama's speech in Cairo (June 4^th) and the Iranian elections.

Some questions asked include: "Which foreign leader do you most admire?" A diverse range of responses followed, with a 20% majority selecting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Other revealing responses had to do with the correlation between attitudes towards the United States and American products; whether it was important to have good relations with the U.S.; whether the participants had favorable views of the U.S. Diversity is exemplified by the fact that, in Jordan, a slight majority thought it was important to have good relations with the U.S. but had an unfavorable view of it, whereas in the Egypt, the opposite was the case.

Other questions seem to bode good responses for America. In Egypt, for example, 30-40% trusted Obama's credibility. More importantly, significant proportions of respondents from both countries supported further sanctions against Iran should Tehran continue in its nuclear endeavors. Mr. Pechter pointed out that the U.S. government could take advantage of this in its attempt to get more support from Arab régimes against Tehran.

Asked about whether respondents felt a sense of paranoia when surveyed, Mr. Pechter explained that, when surveyed properly and not asked about their own régimes, Arabs have a "whole lot to say."

Finally, questioned on his thoughts about the implications of the findings, Mr. Pechter opined that the results looked favorable for Barack Obama. For instance, though the approval rating in terms of Obama's credibility seems relatively low, it is actually twenty points higher than the results of the last ten years worth of opinion-polls regarding an American president's credibility.

Summary written by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.

Related Topics: Public opinion polls Adam Pechter

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