Egypt losing confidence in state: poll
Only 46 percent of those surveyed trust army commander, while support for army itself drops by 20 percent since July.
Egypt is increasingly divided over politics and losing faith in many of the country’s institutions following the removal of Mohamed Morsi as president, a poll has found.
About 46 percent of Egyptians said the country was worse off since Morsi’s removal, compared to 35 percent who believed it is better and 18 percent who said “about the same”, according to a poll this week by Zogby Research Services.
The army remains the most trusted institution in Egypt, with 70 percent expressing confidence in it, but that number represents a marked drop from a similar poll in July, when 93 percent of Egyptians supported it.
Just 48 percent of self-described supporters of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, retained confidence in the army, That figure was down from 88 percent.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the army chief, was ranked as the most trusted political figure in Egypt, with 46 percent of the population backing him. Morsi ranked second, with 44 percent support.
The poll also found the country roughly split on questions of whether Egypt’s interim government would create “a more inclusive democracy” or restore security.
Polls in Egypt, particularly telephone polls, are sometimes unreliable. Shortly before Morsi was elected in 2012, for example, one survey pegged him to win just three percent of the vote.
The Zogby poll was based on 1,405 face-to-face interviews conducted in September in 11 of Egypt’s 27 governorates. The firm did not say why there was a nearly two-month delay in publishing the results.