Poll: Obama ratings in Arab world even lower than Bush's; Palestinian issue ties for top cause of negative views

IMEMC – A new poll by the Arab American Institute shows that attitudes to the US in the Arab world have plummeted following Obama’s favorable ratings in the wake of his Cairo speech two years ago in which he outlined a new approach to American relations with the Middle East. In many countries the poll shows US favorable ratings to be lower than that of George Bush at the end of his term as US President.

Citing a failure to remedy the Palestinian Israeli conflict amongst other issues poll respondents in the latest Arab American Institute poll of attitudes in the Middle East has shown a strong downturn in favorable attitudes to the US.

Strong majorities in every country polled expressed disagreement with the statement that US President Barrack Obama had lived up to expectations following his Cairo speech two years ago. The poll showed Obama’s role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict and his engagement with the Muslim world as being the most contributory factors to his negative ratings, the two issues Obama sought to address most urgently in his Cairo speech.

Nine out of ten Egyptians, Lebanese and Jordanians disagreed with the statement that Obama had lived up to expectations

Arab public’s close to consistently rank the two issues as highest in their concerns for the region. Following these, ending the war in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran rank high in poll respondents concerns.

Both the US action in Libya and the killing of Osama Bin Laden increased negative perceptions of the US according to the poll.