China and Russia are increasingly playing a dominant role in the Middle Eastern and North African region more than ten years ago, surpassing geo-political rival the United States’s influence in the region, according to a poll.
The survey, conducted by independent news outlet Al-Monitor in collaboration with data and analytics firm Premise, had polled 2,670 respondents across Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, and Turkey between March 4 and March 22, 2024.
The poll focuses on the four states’ perceptions on greater power competition in the Middle East, and how will it affect future political and economic ties in the region and beyond.
When asked which of the three world leaders are viewed “most favorably,” about 44.4 percent favored Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping with 33.8 percent, while US President Joe Biden only received 21.7 percent.
Putin was seen more favorably across all four states, especially in Egypt with 51.6%, followed by his American counterpart at 21.7 percent.
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Although Biden was seen a bit more favorable in Iraq at 29.2 percent, compared to the other three states, he still ranks below Putin (35.5%) and Xi (35.3%) overall.
The poll suggested that the US’s regional standing in the Middle East has dwindled because of its support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to Al-Monitor.
The release of the survey comes at a time when the Biden administration is looking to discuss with Netanyahu about Israel’s possible military operation in Rafah, which borders with Egypt.
The respondents were split on whether Washington or Moscow could “most successfully mediate political disagreements in the Middle East,” with the former at 30 percent and the latter at 28 percent.
On the contrary, over 40 percent of the respondents agreed that the US is still best equipped to help resolve the Israel-Hamas war, compared to Russia and China.
Looking beyond the ongoing conflict, nearly half of respondents saw Russia (49.5%) and China (47.9%) playing “more important regional roles” compared to a decade ago, compared to the US (37.1%).
The poll indicated that in the next decade, Beijing could rival Washington as the “most influential” in the Middle East.
In addition, a majority expressed their desire to see how governments “forge closer ties” with Beijing (43.2%) and Moscow (39.7%), in contrast to Washington (29.7%).
