Iraqis Show Optimism About the Future and Strong Support for Democracy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2004

Washington, D.C. --Recent public opinion surveys conducted by IRI show Iraqis to be surprisingly optimistic about their future and much stronger supporters of democracy than many new reports would lead you to believe.

Over 51% of Iraqis polled felt that their country is headed in "the right direction," up slightly from IRI's May/June poll. More telling, the number who feel that things are heading in "the wrong direction" has dropped from 39% to 31% over the same time period.

Some of this confidence may be a result of wide public support for the Iraqi Interim Government. Prime Minister Allawi holds an enviable approval rating, with 66% rating him as either "very effective" or "somewhat effective." Likewise, President al-Yawer enjoys the support of 60.6% of Iraqis polled who say that they "completely trust" or "somewhat trust" him.

In a stunning display of support for democracy and a strong rebuttal to critics of efforts to bring democratic reform to Iraq, 87% of Iraqis indicated that they plan to vote in January elections. Expanding on the theme, 77% said that "regular, fair elections" were the most important political right for the Iraqi people and 58% felt that Iraqi-style democracy was likely to succeed.

Looking forward to the drafting of the new constitution, a cumulative 67% place a strong importance on the preservation of a unified state, with 56% citing this as issue of primary importance. On the role of religion in determining the new constitution, while support for Shiri'a law is strong at nearly 70%, there is divided opinion on whether the government should create a secular state that respects the rights of all religious, tribal and ethnic groups with 49% agreeing and 40% disagreeing.

Support for political parties remains largely undefined with 80% not identifying with any political party. In determining who they would support, a large plurality of Iraqis, nearly 45%, say that a militia attached to a political party would make them less inclined to vote for that party. Only 7% indicated that the presence of a militia would make them more inclined to support a party. Among those polled, religious leaders enjoyed the support of 30% as possible election candidates, with university professors (24%) and party leaders (15.5%) rounding out the top three preferences. Iraqis further indicated a strong preference for "modern" (64%) versus "traditional" (18%) candidates, while also preferring "religious" (69%) candidates to "secular" (24%) ones.

Continued polling is planned on at least a monthly basis as IRI continues its work in developing political parties in anticipation of the January elections and helping the Interim Government to be responsive to citizen's needs.

For more details on the current polls, please click on www.iri.org.

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Related Links

To view Political Attitudes Survey of the Iraqi Electorate, please click here
To view IRAQ: National Voter Attitudes and Awareness, please click here

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