A survey conducted by Arab Barometer suggests that people across the Middle East and North Africa doubt whether a Donald Trump or Joe Biden presidency will have any positive effect on the region.
Conducted before the election on 3 November, the survey found that more people responded that they didn’t know or that a new US president would make no difference, as opposed to showing a preference for either Trump or Biden.
Despite Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., suggestion that most of the world, apart from Mexico, Liberia, India and China, would have backed the Republican incumbent, Trump is one of the world’s most unpopular leaders in the region.
An average of 12% of Arab citizens were in favour of Donald Trump’s policies in the region. In comparison, Vladimir Putin has an approval rating of around 28%, and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was seen favourably by 51% of those responding to the survey. Chinese President Xi Jinping was liked by around a third of respondents.
Those asked in Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and Algeria all preferred a Biden win to a Trump re-election. In Jordan, where only 3% said that they favored Trump, an equal number said that they thought both Trump and Biden were as bad as each other, with another 50% responding that they didn’t know.
There was a sense that Obama would tame down US military involvement in the Middle East which proved to be flawed. Drone strikes increased by ten times, most of which in countries that the US was not at war with, and some even targeted US citizens…
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