MESOP MIDEAST WATCH : NEW POLLS SHOW WHERE GREAT POWERS STAND IN SAUDI ARABIA AND JORDAN

Featuring David Pollock and Sawera Khan Fikra ForumDecember 9, 2021 Survey respondents in both kingdoms give a rare glimpse into their views on how the United States stacks up against China and Russia, among other foreign and domestic issues.

Commissioned by The Washington Institute and conducted by an independent regional commercial firm in November, a new survey reveals a virtual three-way tie among major powers in their perceived importance to Saudi respondents. China emerges very narrowly ahead, with exactly half of the population calling good relations with Beijing “important.” The United States and Russia are close behind, statistically tied at 44-45%. As for their choice of the top priority for U.S. policy, the data demonstrates an almost even four-way split among the following options: containing Iran, solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, ending the civil wars in Yemen and Libya, or “promoting democracy and human rights in Arab countries”…

Among Jordanians, both Iran and Israel remain hugely unpopular, but there has been a marginal decrease in hostility toward normalization with Israel. On the domestic front, half the public voices dissatisfaction with official efforts to deal with key problems—yet fewer are favorably disposed to mass street protests. And just over half (51%) say that “good relations” with the United States are “very important” or “fairly important” to their country. China is a very close second, with 49%. Russia runs a distant third, at just 31%. Indeed, support for good ties with Washington has steadily recovered over the past three years, while support for relations with China and Russia has declined…

View the full Jordan analysis and associated charts on Fikra Forum.

David Pollock is the Bernstein Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of Project Fikra. Sawera Khan is an intern for Fikra Forum and a recent graduate of Washington and Lee University.

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