Survey Finds Most Arabs View President Obama Favorably
By Mohamed Elshinnawi
Washington
29 May 2009
As President Barack Obama prepares to address Muslims around the world, questions about the mood and opinions of Arabs are surfacing. A new University of Maryland/Zogby International poll on attitudes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates shows that the election of President Obama is fueling hopes about U.S. Middle East policy. But it also reveals that most Arabs hold unfavorable views of the United States.
Attitudes in the Arab world towards the United States are still negative, according to the 2009 poll conducted by the University of Maryland with Zogby International.
2nd greatest threat
Seventy-seven percent of those polled say the United States is the second greatest threat after Israel, still an improvement compared to the 2008 poll.
And 45 percent of Arabs polled have a favorable view of President Obama.
University of Maryland Professor Shibley Telhami commissioned the survey.
"They like him, they are open to him, they are hopeful, the majority is expressing hopefulness toward American foreign policy since he has become the president, but that has not yet been translated into profound change in attitudes toward American foreign policy," Telhami said.
More than 4,000 people in six Arab states were canvassed in April and May.
Arab-Israeli conflict is key issue
An overwhelming majority identified the Arab-Israeli conflict as a key issue and 41 percent said a peace agreement brokered by Washington would change their view of the U.S.
If American troops are withdrawn from Iraq by the year 2011, 51 percent said they will hold favorable views of the U.S.
Telhami says, for Arabs, actions speak louder than words.
"In the end, they are going to judge on the basis of actions," he noted, "and I think the president himself in his first interview with Al-Arabiya said I know you are not going to judge me by what I say, in the end you are going to judge me by what I do, and I think the administration understands this."
Al-Jazeera tv is popular
The poll also inquired about which news networks Arabs watch, with Al-Jazeera, funded by Qatar's government, coming out on top and the U.S. government-financed Al-Hurra near the bottom.
Zogby International conducted a separate poll in the same Arab countries on President Obama's first 100 days in office.
In four of the countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Lebanon - a majority said Barack Obama's election as president boosted their approval of the U.S.
President Bush, by contrast, was disliked in the Arab world because of the Iraq invasion and the widely held view that his administration launched a war on Islam.
Favorable views on Obama
James Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute and a senior analyst for Zogby International, headed by his brother John Zogby. He says the polls indicate that President Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq and build better relations with the Muslim world will likely improve U.S.-Arab ties.
"I think he already has begun to do that. The question is he has a little more work to do to continue to deliver on that, but banning torture and changing the direction already in terms of the rhetoric that has been used, his speech in Turkey, what he will do when he goes to Cairo, all of these things will contribute to that," Zogby said.
The unfavorable views of the U.S. are not based on religion or values but on U.S. policies in the Middle East, Zogby says the surveys show.
He says Arabs are expecting President Obama to address critical issues like the Arab-Israeli conflict during his upcoming address to Muslims around the world.
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