Only 30% of Egyptians believe that Egypt is headed in the right direction, according to a new report issued by Pew Research Centre, which stated that Egyptians are increasingly dissatisfied with the current democratic transition period.
The report, titled “Egyptians Increasingly Glum”, conducted a survey based on national samples and published a report announcing its results.
The report stated that 39% of Egyptians believe that things are better off now since Mubarak’s departure. Additionally, 53% of Egyptians have a favourable view on President Mohamed Morsi, while 43% see him negatively, according to the report. Opinion varied with regards to the other prominent political leaders, where 48% had a favourable view on Hamdeen Sabahi, 45% on Ahmed Shafiq, and 40% on Mohamed ElBaradei.
As 75% of Egyptians believe that the economic conditions of Egypt are in a bad shape, 83% perceive improving those conditions as ‘very important’, stated the report.
73% of the interviewed sample believes the army is having a good influence on Egypt, while the percentage decreased to 35% when asking about the influence of the police.
The report noted the rising ideological divisions in Egypt. It stated that the results of face-to-face interviews conducted with 1,000 adults revealed that supporters of the National Salvation Front (NSF) have a different perception on the current state of Egypt than the supporters of Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), and Al-Nour Party.
On the influence of religion, the report mentioned that 58% of Egyptians believe that laws should adhere strictly to teachings of Quran, while 28% believe that laws should follow Islamic principles but not strictly implement laws from the Quran. According to the report, only 11% believe that religion should have no influence over Egypt’s laws.
Controversy over the constitution persisted in the report, as 49% favoured it and 45% opposed it.
At least in six-in-ten Egyptians still prefer democracy to any other form of government, while most of them express a desire for certain democratic rights that were perceived as more important. Those rights included free media, fair elections, and fair judicial system, according to the report.
Regarding religious minorities, 38% said the government is exerting enough efforts to ensure that religious minorities can practice their religions freely, while 39% said it is not doing enough.
The report showed that Egyptians still have negative views toward the US and Israel. It stated that 16% have a favourable view of the US, 24% perceived having good relations with it is as important, while 69% did not see it as important.
Additionally, only 3% perceived having a strong relationship between Egypt and Israel as important, while 63% expressed their refusal to accept the 1979 peace treaty between the two states.
The report was released on 16 May, and is divided into 5 chapters; ‘National Conditions’, ‘Key Leaders, Groups and Institutions’, ‘Attitudes toward Democracy’, ‘Islam and Politics’, and ‘Views of U.S. and Israel’.
