Although American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama often talk about change and hope, people living in the Middle East believe that even if Obama would win - Obama is considered more pro-Arab than Sen. John McCain - little to nothing will change.
When asked whether the U.S. elections matter to them, 62% of readers of AlArabiya.net said they do not because either way the new president will be an avid supporter of Israel.
The average Arab believes that Obama is inherently less hostile to the Arab world than McCain, but fear that he will not be able to change U.S. foreign policy much.
32% of Arabs living in the Middle East said they believed U.S. policy would remain the same, a recent Zogby poll showed, while 18% believed Obama had the best chance of advancing peace. Only 4% said the same about John McCain, who is considered an extension of George W. Bush.
Perhaps surprisingly to may, 13% of Arabs said they wanted Obama to lose because they consider Democrats anti-religion. 26% wanted McCain to lose because of his anti-Arab views and policies.
As can be seen, just add up the numbers, many Arabs believe that neither candidate will truly be different and come up with an entirely new policy for the Middle East.
(11/4/2008)
- By: Michael van der Galien, PoliGazette, Netherlands
