Outside the Beltway

Vast Majority Of Americans Want Us To Stay Out Of The Egypt Crisis

Doug Mataconis · Monday, January 31, 2011 · 3 comments

An interesting tidbit in the latest Rasmussen poll about the situation in Egypt:

Only seven percent (7%) of Americans think the United States should help the current Egyptian government stay in power. Seventy percent (70%) think America should leave the situation alone. Twenty-three percent (23%) aren’t sure what we should do.

That’s actually mildly refreshing to see.

FILED UNDER: Middle East, Public Opinion Polls, US Politics, World Politics, Egypt

About Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

Dave Schuler says:

Monday, 31 January 2011 at 21:07

I suspect that most Americans are unaware that Egypt is the second largest recipient of foreign aid from the United States, second only to Israel. I wonder what they think “leave the situation alone” means.
Doug Mataconis says:

Monday, 31 January 2011 at 21:24

Dave,

That is a fair point indeed. Without diving into the crosstabs to see how the question was worded, I would suspect that this result reflects a general unease with the idea of the US becoming responsible in some way for the future political stability of Egypt.

Considering we’ve already made similar commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would think that forebearance would be wise in this case.
TG Chicago says:

Tuesday, 1 February 2011 at 09:51

So 0% said that we should help the protestors? I personally don’t advocate that position, but I’m surprised that *nobody* did. Did they not offer that as an option?