Looking at IRAN How 20 Arab & Muslim Nations View Iran & Its Policies March 5, 2013 At the end of 2012, we polled more than 20,000 citizens in 17 Arab countries and three non-arab Muslim countries (Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan). Our survey covered a range of topics, including attitudes toward Iran, its people, culture, and its nuclear program. Comparing our most recent findings to the data from our earlier surveys in the region reveals important changes in Arab and Muslim attitudes toward Iran. It also helps identify factors that appear to serve as drivers behind these changes. For example, when we polled on many of these same issues in 2006, Iran s favorable ratings in Arab and Muslim countries were at their highest point. Back then, in most countries, Iran s favorable ratings were in the 75% range (with Saudis giving Iran an 85% rating). Six years later, the tables have turned. Now Iran s favorable ratings in these same countries have fallen to less than 25% (Saudi ratings have plummeted to 15%). What emerges from our 2011 and 2012 polls is that the earlier favorable attitudes toward Iran were not about Iran, per se. Instead, they appear to be more a reaction to Arab public opinion s fury at Israel s behavior and U.S. policy in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq, coupled with the perception that Iran and its allies were standing firm in opposition to the machinations of the West. What has changed in 2012 is that the United States has lowered its regional profile while Iran is now perceived to be playing a divisive role in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Syria. What also emerges from our 2012 survey is the presence of a worrisome sectarian divide that has taken hold in several countries, with Sunni attitudes largely opposing Iran and Shia communities in these same countries supporting Iran. There is, however, a limit to Iran s appeal in the Arab World and this is the result of the important roles that Arab culture and identity play as unifying factors in shaping attitudes across sectarian lines. There was a time, just a few years ago, when favorable Arab public opinion toward Iran in some countries stood poles apart from the positions of their governments. Some observers made much of this, suggesting that the concerns with Iran s policies expressed by Arab governments were out of touch with their publics. That may have been true in 2006. But after Iran and its allies overplayed their hands in several areas (with Syria being the nail in the coffin majorities in 17 of the 20 nations covered in our 2012 survey oppose Iran s involvement in Syria), that gap has now been erased. Most Arabs and Muslims now hold decidedly negative views of Iran and are solidly opposed to Iran s regional ambitions. The same is true of Arab and Muslim attitudes toward Iran s nuclear program. Back in 2006, when Iran was seen as the bastion of resistance to the West, their nuclear ambitions were supported and defended. Our earlier polls show Arab and Muslim public opinion in 2006 supporting Iran s claim that their program was for peaceful purposes. Whether peaceful or not, strong majorities were also opposed to any international effort to impose sanctions or use military force against the Islamic Republic. Today, on the other hand, there is virtually no support for Iran s nuclear ambitions. Instead, there is widespread support for sanctions to stop Iran should it persist in advancing its nuclear program with majorities or strong pluralities supporting sanctions in 14 of the 20 countries covered in our survey. Opposition to the use of military force remains high, with strong majorities still against it. But here too there has been a change, with some increase in the number of those who now support the use of a military strike should Iran persist with its nuclear program. The lesson here is clear. When Iran was seen in the Arab and Muslim Worlds through the prism of U.S. and Israeli policies, it won. But when Iran is judged by its regional behavior and its domestic repression, it loses support in Arab and Muslim public opinion. Buy the ebook in the Amazon Kindle store. www.zogbyresearchservices.com James Zogby, Managing Director
! Methodology InNovember2012,ZogbyResearchServicesconductedpollsin20countries.Seventeen werearabcountries(morocco,algeria,libya,tunisia,egypt,sudan,palestine,lebanon, Jordan,Iraq,Kuwait,Qatar,Bahrain,UAE,Oman,Yemen,andSaudiArabia)andthree werenonparabmuslimcountries(turkey,azerbaijanandpakistan).inall,20,051 citizensweresurveyed. Theapproachusedforconductingthepollinthe20ArabandMuslimcountriesinvolved faceptopface,inphomepersonalinterviews.urbanaswellasruralcenterswerecovered ineachcountrytocoverawidespreadgeography.thesampleobtainedwasnationally representative&comprisedadultmalesandfemales,whowere15+yearsofage(in somegcccountries,onlycitizenswerecovered). 1600KStreet,NW Suite603 Washington,DC20006 202P652P4977
Iran s Favorable Ratings 2006 2011
Attitude Toward Iran (2012)
Green Movement vs. Government (2012)
Iran s Role in Bahrain (2012)
Iran s Role in Syria (2012)
Iran s Nuclear Objectives (2012)
Iran Has Nuclear Ambitions (2006 vs. 2012)
Attitudes Toward Iran by Sect (2012)