July opinion poll surveying 2,214 adults across Egypt shows public disapproval for protests backing toppled Islamist leader.
Egyptians are by and large unsympathetic to protests calling for the reinstatement of Egypt’s toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Sevety-one percent of Egyptians voiced their disapproval of the Brotherhood-led protests which have been taking place for three weeks, according to a poll conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Public Opinion Research (Baseera).
Baseera`s July opinion poll found that twenty percent of those polled were in support of the pro-Morsi demonstrations, while nine percent remained uncertain about how to view the matter.
The report stated that residents of urban governorates seem less sympathetic to the pro-Morsi protests than those of rural areas. Urban residents polled at seventeen percent approval, seventy-seven percent disapproval, whereas the numbers were twenty-one and sixty-seven percent, respectively, for rural residents.
Morsi`s Islamist backers have maintained a sit-in in north Cairo since 28 June. They have been staging protests in Cairo and other provincial towns demanding his reinstatement ever since Morsi’s 3 July ouster by the army amid mass anti-Brotherhood demonstrations.
The independent Cairo-based organization polled 2,214 adults from across Egypt`s twenty-seven governorates via telephone on 20 and 21 July. The poll’s margin of error is less than three percent.
Based on the report`s findings, male respondents are more disapproving of the protests (seventy-eight percent) than female ones (sixty-five percent).
Fifteen percent of women remained uncertain, versus three percent of men.
The report revealed that age and education levels affect reactions to the pro-Morsi protests. According to the poll, sympathy declines with age, recording at twenty-four percent sympathetic amongst those aged eighteen-ninteen compared to fourteen percent amongst those fifty and up.
Sympathy for pro-Morsi protests was higher among university graduates (twenty-six percent) than those with a mid-level education (eighteen percent).
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]