Among the most critical issues during the elections, Covid-19 ranked first, with 37 percent of the respondents, and was followed by economic issues at 35 percent.
ABU DHABI, November 1 – A majority of respondents in an opinion poll conducted by TRENDS Research & Advisory favor Republican candidate Donald Trump over the Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden.
The poll, conducted by the Global Barometer Department at the think-tank, said 53 percent of the respondents supported Trump while 40 percent supported Joe Biden.
The results could be attributed to Trump’s policies during his first term, which has been described as bold and realistic, and his efforts to find solutions to the various crises in the Middle East region.
On the other hand, Biden is not seen as presenting a new vision but seems to be pursuing the policies of the former president, Barak Obama, especially concerning the Middle East.
Among the most critical issues during the elections, the Covid-19 pandemic ranked first, with 37 percent of the respondents, followed by economic issues (35 percent), personal traits of the candidates (18 percent), and the US foreign policy (10 percent).
This indicates that economic issues usually represent the main concern for voters in the US, while interest in foreign policy is not among their top priorities. This has been a general feature in the history of the US presidential elections.
The poll also showed that most of the respondents (64 percent) expected a substantial change in the US policy toward the Middle East if Joe Biden won the election, while 28 percent disagreed with that.
The issues that are expected to see a significant change if Biden wins have Iran at the top (55 percent), followed by the case of peaceful settlement (20 percent), political Islam (19 percent), and Turkey (6 percent).
The expected change in Biden’s policies can be interpreted from his frequent criticism of Trump’s foreign policy, particularly regarding Iran and his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. Biden has supported the US’s return to the deal and alleviating the sanctions imposed on Iran.
The poll suggests that Biden follows the policies of former president Barak Obama on the subject of political Islam with the Muslim Brotherhood at the forefront.
With a sample size of 500, the survey was conducted using the TRENDS followers at its various social media platforms. A technology called “Snowball Sample” was also used wherein each person TRENDS communicated with and sent the link of the questionnaire to friends to attract a more extensive response.
For the study’s purpose, another random sample was used comprising 529 individuals belonging to different nationalities, age groups, and various education levels besides the participation of 31 international think-tanks.
