The results of an opinion poll of the Arab Barometer Network of the opinions of the citizens of Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan revealed clear support for the Democratic candidate for the American elections, Joe Biden, at the expense of his rival, President Donald Trump, with rates ranging between 23% and 52%, and Lebanon was the only exception to this conclusion. Support for the two candidates was roughly equal, at 18% for Trump, and 17% for his opponent.
The results of the poll, which included 5,000 people in the five countries and was conducted via mobile phones, revealed that Tunisians are the most supportive of Biden's policies (52%), followed by Algerians (43%), Moroccans (39%), Jordanians (23%) and the Lebanese ranked fifth. By 17%.
In contrast, in the countries surveyed, the highest level of support for Trump was 18% in Lebanon, followed by Tunisia (12%), Morocco (9%), Algeria (7%), and Jordan (3%).
It was striking that the percentage of those who were equal to the bad policies of candidates Trump and Biden was high in Lebanon, reaching 42%, a large difference from other countries (ranged between 15% and 24%).
On the other hand, 50% of the respondents in the Jordanian poll said that they do not know which of the candidates will be the best policies for the region, while in the rest of the countries it ranged between 19% and 28%.
(Source: Arab Barometer Network)
Both are the same
In general, it is observed that many citizens of the four countries are not convinced that the policies of any of the candidates will be better for the region, as a quarter of citizens say that Biden and Trump's policies will be just as bad, and this percentage is 42% in Lebanon, and about a third in the countries Those surveyed stated that they did not know which of the candidates would be best.
Commenting on the results of the survey published today, Director of the Arab Barometer Michael Robbins says that President Trump is still not popular in the Middle East and North Africa, as only 12% of the citizens of this region have expressed their acceptance of his policies in their region according to the results of the Arab Barometer for the years 2018 and 2019. This percentage is much lower compared to the percentage granted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (51%) and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin (28%).
Robbins added that the new surveys issued by the Arab Barometer in the fall of 2020 show that the percentage of support for Trump's policies in the region has remained the same in the estimation of citizens in 5 countries covered by the opinion poll, while about a third of the participants in the Arab Barometer said that they support the policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping .
(Source: Arab Barometer Network)
Outlook for America
Among the striking results is that the percentage of positive perceptions of the United States among the people of the five Arab countries is much higher than the percentage of support for Trump himself, although the view of the United States is negative among the majority of those polled, then on average a quarter of citizens have a positive opinion in Washington, and the percentage reaches 39% in Morocco And it is lowest in Jordan at 16%.
Robbins returns, saying that there has been a general decline in the image of the United States and its people since 2016 among the citizens of the region, which indicates that the Trump administration's policies may have a role in changing views towards America in the past period.
And he adds that given the large number of negative opinions about Trump in the region during the last four years, Biden's presidency may provide an opportunity for improvement in views towards the United States, as more than half of citizens in the five countries surveyed feel hopeful that Biden will be better, or do not know how to rank him compared to Trump. Which shows that Biden may improve his country's image in the eyes of Arab public opinion.
It is noteworthy that the Arab Barometer surveys have been conducted since 2006 by a non-partisan research network affiliated with Princeton University, which cooperates with a number of universities and researchers in the Arab region, and the poll was conducted between July and October last.
Those in charge of the Arab Barometer say that not all countries in the Arab region were included in the survey due to the constraints of limited funding, and the feasibility and feasibility of carrying out the research in various countries.