By Dr.Magued Osman
Egyptian public opinion research centre Baseera conducted a public opinion poll about the extent of Egyptians’ sympathy towards the demonstrations in support of former president Mohammed Morsi, currently underway in some of Egypt’s Squares, and in particular Cairo.
The poll results indicated that 20% of Egyptians sympathize with the demonstrations, compared to 71% who do not, while 9% said they are unsure.
The proportion of rural residents sympathetic to the demonstrations amounts to 21% compared to 67% who are unsympathetic, whereas in urban areas 17% of residents are sympathetic compared to 77% who are not. Upper Egypt showed the highest proportion of residents sympathetic to the demonstrations in support of Morsi, where the rate of sympathy reached 27%, compared to 15% in Lower Egypt and 16% in the urban governorates.
A significantly larger proportion of men are unsympathetic with the demonstrations (78% v 65% among females) and a larger proportion of females are undecided about their attitudes towards the demonstrations (15% v 3% among men).
The proportion of those sympathetic with the demonstrations decreases with increasing age, with 24% of youth aged 18-29 sympathetic, compared to 14% among those aged 50 or older.
Despite the lack of clear variation in the proportions of those unsympathetic to the demonstrations between the different educational levels, the proportion of sympathizers climbs with increasing levels of education, while the proportion of those unable to determine their attitudes decreases.
Sympathy with demonstrations among those with a less than intermediate education reaches 18%, compared to 26% among those with university education. In turn, the proportion of those unable to determine their attitudes regarding the demonstrations decreases to 14% among those with intermediate education, compared to just 3% among those with university education.
