A new report from the Pew Research Center has enumerated some key facts about the mood of the country’s populace as a presidential election approached on May 23 and 24. The report which is made up of 1000 individual face to face conducted between March 19 and April 10.
53% of the population are satisfied by the direction of the country and 52% are optimistic about the future. Those numbers are lower than they were in 2011, as the country rode the mood high of the Arab Spring, but satisfaction in 2010 hit a high of 28%. The country is, despite the reigning view of the country as one still majorly in protest, going well according to the people on the street.
Approval of political parties remains high for the most powerful among them. The Muslim Brotherhood had an approval of 70% while the military rulers, denoted the Supreme Council of The Armed Forces, maintained an approval rating of 63%. The latter figure is surprising given the preponderance of coverage of protests against that organisationearlier in the year and its demands of a veto on certain pieces of legislation.
Democracy is still the most sought after type of government in the North African nation. 67% of those interviewed believe democracy is preferable to any other type of government while 61% agreed that democracy was the most likely form of governance to solve the country’s mounting problems. It can be contended that democracy covers a wide range of government types and the understanding of the idea in the Arab states may not be the same as it is in Western countries. Despite that as an ideal it maintains the connotations of freedom seen in Western Nations.
The top priorities of the country’s populace when asked to rate them were, on equal footing, a fair judiciary and economic improvement. In third came a free uncensored media. Following that in descending order of priority were law and order, freedom of speech, honest elections and the allowance of religious parties to enter parliament.
The poll also saw the favorability of the United States in the eyes of Egypts people continue. The US has a favorability rating of only around 19% in the country with Obama garnering a 69% negative rating on his international impact. An increasing number of citizens, in this poll 61%, want Egypt to discontinue its treaty with Israel signed in 1979. That force may be seen as the most worrying result of this survey going forward.
