Survey: Majority of Egyptians admire Erdoğan, support Turkish political model

The 2012 Public Opinion Survey in Egypt was conducted from May 4-10, 2012 by US think tank the Brookings Institution to assess public opinion in the weeks leading up to Egypt's historic democratic presidential election.

When respondents were asked the question, “Which country best reflects your aspirations for the role of Islam in politics?” 54 percent answered Turkey, followed by Saudi Arabia with 32 percent, and another 7 percent said none.

When asked in an open-ended question to name the world leader, excluding Egyptian leaders, they most admire, 63 percent of Egyptians identified the prime minister of Turkey, while President Barack Obama and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia received 5 percent each.

However, when asked which leader, including Egyptian leaders, they would like their next president to resemble most, 35 percent said Anwar Sadat, 26 percent named Gamal Abdel Nasser and 15 percent named Erdoğan.

Given a choice between US President Obama and likely Republican candidate Mitt Romney, 73 percent said they preferred Romney as next president, while only 25 percent said they would choose Obama. Brookings stated that, it is unlikely that most Egyptians know much about Romney's stance on international issues, and that this choice is more likely a reflection of disappointment with Obama.

Respondents were almost equally divided among those who would like to see Egypt maintain its peace treaty with Israel (46 percent) and those who would like to see it annulled (44 percent). An additional 10 percent would like to see the treaty amended.

The survey results also showed that respondents were overwhelmingly in support of the Syrian opposition, but were divided over how to address the crisis. The largest number (43 percent) said they didn't want to see any external military intervention in Syria, while 18 percent supported military intervention, but only with UN Security Council support. Another 15 percent supported a joint Turkish-Arab military intervention.

When it comes to international actors' roles in Syria, Turkey was identified by 31 percent of survey participants as playing the most constructive role, followed by Saudi Arabia with 26 percent and the United States with 20 percent. Russia and China were identified by only 3 percent each.