{"id":16023,"date":"2013-06-04T11:41:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T16:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/under-obama-egyptians-views-of-us-worse-than-under-george-w-bush-presidency\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:31:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:31:19","slug":"under-obama-egyptians-views-of-us-worse-than-under-george-w-bush-presidency","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/04\/under-obama-egyptians-views-of-us-worse-than-under-george-w-bush-presidency\/","title":{"rendered":"Under Obama, Egyptians\u2019 views of U.S. worse than under George W. Bush presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"President Obama Speech to Muslim World in Cairo\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B_889oBKkNU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today marks four years since a newly elected President Barack Obama spoke to a packed, enthusiastic audience of students at Cairo University, calling for \u201ca new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.\u201d The June 4, 2009 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/remarks-president-cairo-university-6-04-09\">speech<\/a> was the new administration\u2019s most high-profile effort to revive the image of the United States in Egypt and other predominantly Muslim nations, following the rise of anti-Americanism during the George W. Bush era. Four years later, much has changed in Egypt, but anti-Americanism persists.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roughly eight-in-ten Egyptians (81%) expressed an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. in a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2013\/05\/16\/egyptians-increasingly-glum\/\">poll<\/a> conducted this March by the Pew Research Center. Today, the U.S. gets even more negative ratings in Egypt than it did throughout much of the Bush presidency.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the last few years, polls have found a familiar list of Egyptian concerns about the United States.\u00a0 American anti-terrorism efforts are unpopular among Egyptians. Most think the U.S. ignores the interests of other countries. And few believe Obama has been fair in dealing with the Israelis and Palestinians. Even American aid is viewed with suspicion \u2013 majorities say U.S. military and economic assistance is having a negative impact on Egypt.<\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-247650\" alt=\"obama-egypt\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2013\/06\/obama-egypt.png\" width=\"425\" height=\"344\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the start of his presidency, Obama received significantly more positive ratings than his predecessor.\u00a0 In 2009, Egyptians were almost evenly divided between those who expressed confidence that Obama would \u201cdo the right thing\u201d in world affairs (42%) and those who lacked confidence in the new American president (47%).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Obama\u2019s ratings have steadily declined, and today, only 26% of Egyptians express confidence in him, while 72% have little or no confidence.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In what may seem a paradox to some, the negative ratings for Obama, and for the U.S. overall, have continued and even worsened during a period in which Egyptians have actively embraced a number of freedoms and institutions central to American-style democracy. Egyptians may be dissatisfied with the way their new democracy is working, but most continue to want free speech, a free press, and competitive multi-party elections.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the toppling of a dictator and the advent of democracy in Egypt has not boosted America\u2019s image there. And looking ahead, few see improving relations with the U.S. as a priority. About seven-in-ten (69%) say it is not important for Egypt to have a good relationship with the U.S.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo single speech,\u201d Obama noted in his Cairo address, \u201ccan eradicate years of mistrust.\u201d\u00a0 The ensuing four years would show just how deep that mistrust runs, and just how steep a climb the U.S. faces in turning around its image in Egypt and many other parts of the Muslim world.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today marks four years since a newly elected President Barack Obama spoke to a packed, enthusiastic audience of students at Cairo University, calling for \u201ca new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.\u201d Four years later, much has changed in Egypt, but anti-Americanism persists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"38583914943ac18d03059360b3e0b27b","termId":937}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[75,74,118],"bylines":[937],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-16023","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-george-w-bush","category-us-global-image","bylines-richard-wike","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-global"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":438,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/06\/04\/under-obama-egyptians-views-of-us-worse-than-under-george-w-bush-presidency\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Under Obama, Egyptians\u2019 views of U.S. worse than under George W. 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