In the wake of President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster from office, Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of the leading backers of Egypt’s new military regime. Along with diplomatic initiatives, the Saudi kingdom has organized a $12 billion aid package for Egypt, and pledged to make up any shortfalls if the U.S. or other countries withdraw assistance.
Even before Saudi Arabia’s recent actions, the Egyptian public had an overwhelmingly positive view of Saudi Arabia. A March Pew Research Center poll found that fully 78% of Egyptians hold a favorable opinion of Saudi Arabia and more than eight-in-ten (84%) express similar sentiments about Saudi King Abdullah. These views have been consistently high in recent years, although favorability toward the Saudi kingdom has decreased by 13 percentage points since 2007, when Pew Research first asked this question in Egypt.
Views of Saudi Arabia’s influence in Egypt are more tempered, but still favorable. Over half of Egyptians (55%) say that Saudi Arabia has a great deal or fair amount of influence on how things are going in their country. Of those who say Saudi Arabia is influential, 63% describe this influence as good, while 7% say it is bad and about a quarter (26%) say it is neither good nor bad.
Here are more detailed results and survey methodology.
