Egyptians Hold Least Favorable Veiws of Obama

A public poll conducted by the American Ipsos research institute revealed that after 100 days of Barack Obama’s accession to power, Egyptians are the most pessimistic among Arabs towards American policy and the new American president.
 
The institute’s poll was conducted during March with a sample of 7,000 Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Kuwait to explore Arabs’ point of view on the U.S., and the American President Barack Obama and his policies under his slogan declared throughout his presidential campaign, “Change.”
 
Reuters had published the poll results reporting that while 43% of the polled expressed their dissatisfaction with the U.S., 33% said they were satisfied with it.  Also, 14% were neutral while 10% said they knew nothing about the subject.
 
Overall, Obama received 48% of Arabs’ support scoring his highest in Jordan, 58%, and lowest in Egypt, 35%.  Moreover, only 22% of Egyptians expressed confidence in the American point of view towards and policies in the region.
 
The poll also revealed that one out of every ten of the respondents believed that Obama’s policies will have a negative impact on their countries.
 
Ipsos institute commented that the poll results give Obama another opportunity to exert more effort to improve the U.S.’s image in the region.
 
Reuters attributed the decline in Arab support for Obama, especially America, to the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the torture of Muslim detainees in Guantanamo.