DUBAI, U.A.E. (March 13, 2025) – Cygnal, one of the fastest growing and most accurate private U.S.-based polling firms, released the following international poll (conducted March 3-9) of 660 adults (aged 18+) in the general populations of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar. This poll dovetails with our recently released National Voter Trends (NVT) poll comparing views about international affairs and optimism about the direction of America among other issues.
“Middle Easterners, by almost double, were more optimistic about America and its trajectory than most Americans,” said International Pollster and Director of Political and Policy Strategy, Alex Tarascio. “Partisanship among Americans and our news consumption has a lot to do with that, as does a number of other factors like demographics and even the frequency of attendance of religious services but much of the optimism in the region is driven by younger people, expatriates, and imported laborers.”
“Most might expect views about China and the United States to be more lopsided in China’s favor, but the data shows while people in the Middle East like China, most still see America as the global superpower by a twenty-point-plus gap,” said Pollster and Cygnal President, Brent Buchanan. “When it comes to economic opportunity in the near future, most countries in the region we surveyed were in line with the United States in that they see more future opportunities in their home countries versus the prospects of moving abroad.”
Additional takeaways from Buchanan and Tarascio:
Global Direction: 59 percent of Middle Eastern respondents said things in the world are getting better versus 35 percent who said they’re getting worse. Contrast this with the United States where 64 percent said things were getting worse versus 27 percent saying things are on the upswing.
Trump Image: Middle Easterners who have no opinion (13%) of Trump offset his unfavorable image (36%) while his favorable image (48%) is one point higher than Americans’ (47%).
Global Images:
Effectiveness of NGOs? Middle Easterners, who have arguably had more interaction with international NGOs than American voters, are more likely to believe these organizations are effective in addressing global challenges (57% say NGOs are effective). In contrast, American voters, who have contributed more financially to NGOs, are more skeptical, with a plurality (43%) saying NGOs are ineffective.
Global Superpower? When asked whether the United States or China was the world’s leading superpower, a majority of Middle Easterners say the U.S. (55%) over China (32%) though by a smaller margin compared to Americans (66% America vs. 21% China).
Promoting Democracy: More Middle Easterners prefer the United States take a supportive role (34%) than a leading one (29%) in promoting democracy worldwide. Shia populations much prefer (46%) the US to take a leading role whereas only 26 percent of Sunnis think so, preferring a supportive or neutral role.