Arabs seek new partnership with next US president
A new poll shows widespread distrust but reliance on the United States.
Arabs distrust US interventionism in the Middle East but want to see the next president play an active role in helping solve the region’s problems.
Those are the ambivalent results of a telephone survey of 3,200 people in eight countries released Nov. 1 by Arab Center Washington DC. The Tunisia-based public surveying company One-2-One conducted the poll Oct. 21-31.
In keeping with previous polls, a large majority — 67% — of respondents had a negative view of US foreign policy in the region. However, they favored Democrat Hillary Clinton, one of the architects of that policy, by a whopping 70% to 13% over Donald Trump as the better option for their country — a remnant of the widespread anger at Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign.
Arabs are particularly torn over US involvement in the region. While 26% of respondents said the United States should not intervene in the affairs of Arab countries, overlapping numbers of them also say that combating the Islamic State, bringing peace to Syria and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should also be US priorities.
