President Obama more popular with Arabs than USA.

President Barack Obama's popularity in leading Arab countries far outstrips that of the United States, suggesting he could be able to boost goodwill in the region toward his country, a survey showed on Sunday.

Ipsos said its poll, conducted in March, involved 7,000 adults in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.

Of those surveyed, 33 percent had a favorable view of the United States, 43 percent had a negative view, 14 percent were neutral and 10 percent said they did not know, Ipsos said.
In contrast, Obama received favorable ratings averaging 48 percent in the region as a whole. Approval ran as high as 58 percent in Jordan and was lowest among Egyptians, who gave Obama favorable ratings of 35 percent, Ipsos said.

Only 22 percent of Egyptians expressed a favorable view of the United States, the lowest of the six countries surveyed.

I know what some of you are thinking. "It is because secretly he is a Muslim," that is why they like him so much.

That is the easy answer for those on the other side of the fence to explain why the United States is less popular than our new President, but of course it is ridiculous.

The facts are that the Arab opinion of America suffers due to the fact that they elected George W. Bush TWICE, and allowed him to wage an unnecessary war against their countrymen. It is as simple as that.

By contrast Barack Obama has a name that they can relate to, is not the same pasty white faced leader they are sued to seeing, and wants to reach out to countries such as Iran to start a dialogue which the Bush administration believed to be just this side of treason.

Obama represents the hope of a better relationship with America, and that is something that the Arabic world has wanted for many decades now. This is their chance to gain some modicum of acceptance, so of course their opinion of him is quite high.

You know what? My opinion of him is quite high as well.