A new poll asked Egyptians which of six counties—Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Tunisia and Morocco—“is closest to your aspiration in thinking about the role Islam should play in the Egyptian political system?”
A majority of 54 percent chose Turkey while 32 percent chose Saudi Arabia, probably the two extremes of the countries named.
The Tunisian system drew 4 percent support and the other countries—Iran, Morocco and Malaysia—drew a mere 3 percent combined. Seven percent of those questioned said “none” of the countries named represented their hopes for Egypt.
The poll queried 773 Egyptians in early May and was sponsored by the University of Maryland.
Another question in the poll asked what Egypt should do if Iran builds a nuclear weapon; 61 percent responded that Egypt should then build its own bomb, while 32 percent said Egypt should push to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone and 7 percent advocated doing nothing.
Asked to name two countries “that you think pose the biggest threat to you,” 94 percent named Israel, 80 percent named the United States and 20 percent named Iran.
The general thrust of the poll results was that Egyptians didn’t think the Islamic Republic had anything to offer politically, but was not a threat to Egypt, at least not now.
Asked what Egypt should do about its peace treaty with Israel, which Iran loudly opposes, Egyptians were deeply divided with 46 percent saying Egypt should stick with the treaty, 44 percent saying the treaty should be scrapped and only 10 percent saying it should be amended. Most political leaders in Egypt have called for amending the treaty.
One question asked for views of the United States; 85 percent said they viewed America unfavorably and 15 percent favorably.