Israel Matzav

Obama as popular in Egypt as in Israel, but less popular than Osama

US President Barack Hussein Obama has an approval rating of 12% in Egypt, which is worse than Osama Bin Laden's 21%, but just happens to be the same as his approval rating in Israel. This is from the first link.

First the good news: U.S. President Barack Obama is more than twice as popular in Egypt as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad.

Now, the bad news: the American president's standing has never been worse in Egypt, plummeting since 2008, when he received a 25 percent favorability rating, to 12 percent in 2011. Even Osama Bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader, was more popular this year, with a 21 percent favorability ranking. The Iranian leader fared worse, dropping from 21 percent favorability rating in 2008 to a miserable 5 percent.

The findings are drawn from a public poll of Egyptian views in the aftermath of the public uprising that brought about the resignation of Egypt's fallen leader Hosni Mubarak. The poll was commissioned by the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank with close ties to the United Nations and Arab governments.

The poll seeks to capture the mood of the country in the lead up to the Egypt's first post-Mubarak election, and to handicap the presidential campaign. It shows that Egyptians currently fret over issues like the economy, stability, and government corruption more than they worry about the course of the country's democratic transition.

According to the poll, conducted by Charney Research and based on interviews with 800 Egyptians, Amr Moussa, the outgoing Arab League chief, has emerged as an early frontrunner. Thirty-two percent of respondents say they would vote for Moussa, who once served as Mubarak's foreign minister.

So is the Arab spring about the price of bread? That certainly is at least the catalyst. And is it okay to be an autocrat so long as you're not a corrupt autocrat? Maybe.

And by the way, how's that hope and change thing working out? What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Egyptian regime change, Osama Bin Laden

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:26 AM