DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arab World has made it clear who their preference for the next US President would be - a woman. Hillary Clinton leads the pack by a margin of 5-1 in the latest US election poll conducted in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The poll, conducted by Maktoob Research in Dubai, surveyed 3,669 online respondents between May 25-30, 2007 and asked who they would like to see as President of the United States and why. While 15% of total respondents selected Hillary - her closest rival was Al Gore receiving 3% of the overall vote. Third in line was Barack Obama with only 2%. None of the Republican candidates registered even 1% of the total overall vote, and roughly 57% of those surveyed stated "I do not care".
Why Hillary? According to the poll, Hillary's association with Bill Clinton pushes her way up in the eyes of the Arab World who greatly respected her husband and his personal dealings with the Arab World. "The Middle East considered President Clinton a friend who made a genuine personal effort to bring peace to the Region. Their assumption is that Hillary will continue where her husband left off in striving for fair and balanced peace in the Middle East," according to Ahmed Nassef, Vice President of Maktoob Group. Interestingly enough, the men in the Middle East were slightly more likely to want Hillary as the next US president than women in the Region. In Saudi Arabia - the vote was fairly evenly split with 13% of women voting for Hillary and 12% of men.
Al Gore, although not officially on the ballot, was listed as an option for respondents to choose from on the poll, and came in a distant 2nd to Hillary. 15% of respondents who selected Al Gore did so due to his previous experience as Vice President and 8% of those who voted for Gore chose the environment as the reason he should be elected. "The image of the Arab World as the gas guzzling members of OPEC is changing, and the importance of the environment is beginning to take hold in the Region due to increased exposure to information on the internet and satellite television" said Tamara Deprez, Director of Maktoob Research.
Barack Obama received 2% of the overall vote, putting him as the 3rd choice, with respondents favoring his minority status and focus on US domestic issues.
Over half (55%) of the respondents who answered that they "did not care" who was elected President stated that the candidates were all the same regarding negative policy towards the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims, and supportive of Israel, with 24% of that group stating that they are not interested in American politics.
About Maktoob Research:
Maktoob Research, member of ESOMAR, the leading international association of research professionals, combines the region's largest online consumer panel with the latest in international online research standards to provide marketing professionals with better insight on consumer needs and expectations. Focusing primarily on the Middle East and North Africa, Maktoob Research offers a global panel covering approximately 2 million Arabs in 30 countries.
Maktoob.com was founded in the year 2000 as the world's first Arabic/English email service. In a few years, Maktoob has grown to become the Arab World's most popular web portal, offering world class communications and information tools that empower the Arab Internet user.
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