Last week I flagged that YouGov poll from last week showing that only 25 percent of Egyptians want an Islamic state and only 27 percent support overturning the Camp David peace agreement with Israel. Today, Pew released a new poll of Egyptian residents that has considerably different results on religion and Islamic law:
Likewise, Pew also finds a majority for overturning the peace treaty in Israel:
What accounts for the discrepancies? I'm not sure. Support for overturning the peace treaty is lower among the more highly educated and better off, but support for what the poll terms Islamic fundamentalism is also lower among the poorer classes. Support for Islamic fundamentalists is higher in the middle- and high-income brackets. About 31 percent "agree" with Islamic fundamentalism, while 30 percent don't, while the rest agree with both, neither, or are undecided. The U.S. doesn't poll well, drawing a 79 percent disapproval rating. Both polls had a similar sample size and polled Egyptians of varying ages and economic means, which makes me wonder how much question phrasing may have had an impact on the disparate results.
Interestingly enough, the New Wafd Party (20 percent) polls higher than the Muslim Brotherhood (17 percent) in the Pew poll, despite the more favorable numbers it finds for the MB. The New Wafd Party is basically a neoliberal party according to its platform, supporting market liberalization as well as socially liberal views on women and religious minorities.
