Six years after the election of President Kais Saied, public opinion in Tunisia has largely stabilized. Despite a series of protests at the time of the survey, Tunisians generally hold attitudes that are relatively similar to those recorded in the Arab Barometer survey conducted two years prior. On the whole, older Tunisians seem to be more satisfied with current conditions…
Democracy
Egypt: Public Opinion Report 2025
Egypt’s public mood is defined by a clear imbalance: economic strain is the dominant force shaping daily life, while the state retains meaningful credit for security and basic stability. The result is not blanket rejection of government, but a more conditional legitimacy—people want order, yet increasingly judge politics through whether it delivers affordability, jobs, and a sense of fairness.
Lebanon and the Regional Conflict
Before Israel’s recent airstrikes and ground invasion in southern Lebanon as part of the widening regional war centered on Iran and its proxies, Lebanon was already in a condition of profound structural weakness. A recent survey of 1,200 randomly selected Lebanese citizens conducted by Arab Barometer in partnership with the Middle East Consultation Group of the Munich Security Conference provides…
Palestine 2025: Views on Governance and Domestic Power Balance
Gaza War reshaped Palestinian society: priorities shifted from growth to basic services; trust mixed but satisfaction fell; civil liberties eroded. Public still values democracy yet increasingly favors a strong leader who can deliver stability. Politically, Fatah’s support has collapsed, while Hamas has maintained its base, but the largest group is the politically alienated. Social norms grew more conservative. This landscape…
Political System Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa (2023-2024)
Ultimately, these findings reveal a region that is still searching for the best system of governance. Citizens want dignity, but years of non-democratic rule have, in much of the region, not led to this outcome. Yet, the limited democratic experiments, as democracy is defined in the technical sense, have also not produced desired outcomes.
Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa 2023-2024
Findings from Arab Barometer Wave VIII surveys make clear that while citizens across the region have come to realize democracy does not represent a panacea for all their country’s problems, they remain most supportive of it compared with other political systems.
Kuwait Country Report 2024
Arab Barometer’s survey came at a time during which Kuwait suffered from severe domestic developments, the most prominent of which was the change in political leadership at the level of the head of state, as Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad died and was replaced by his brother Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad. This meant, among other things, imposing new choices for the position…
Iraq Public Opinion Report 2024
If uncertainty was the key theme reverberating through Arab Barometer’s 2022 seventh wave findings in Iraq, emergent stability—however slight—is the main one echoing its eighth wave, at least with respect to domestic politics. To be sure, the country still faces many challenges, and protests over corruption, elections, women’s rights, climate change-induced power outages, among other issues have continued to episodically…