{"id":32102,"date":"2012-05-08T14:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T19:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:11:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:11:47","slug":"chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 3. Attitudes Toward Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As their country grapples with a difficult political transition, Egyptians continue to believe democracy is the best form of government and most trust it more than a strong leader to solve the nation\u2019s problems. Moreover, Egyptians not only value democracy in a general sense \u2013 they also value specific features of a democratic society. For instance, solid majorities say it is <em>very<\/em> important to live in a country with a fair judiciary, a free media, and freedom of speech. Still, the economy also remains a top priority, and Egyptians are almost equally divided over whether a good democracy or a strong economy is more important for their country.<\/p>\n\n<h3 data-is-section=\"true\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;democracy-is-a-priority-but-so-is-economy&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/table-of-contents&quot;}\" id=\"democracy-is-a-priority-but-so-is-economy\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Democracy Is a Priority, But So Is Economy<\/h3>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-19877\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/05\/Egypt001411.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"244\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two-thirds of Egyptians believe democracy is preferable to any other type of government. Just 19% say in some circumstances, a non-democratic form of government may be preferable, while 13% say that, for someone like them, it does not matter what kind of government Egypt has.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is basically unchanged from last year, when 71% said democracy was the best form of government. Confidence in democracy is somewhat higher now than in 2010, when six-in-ten Egyptians said it was preferable to other political systems.<\/p>\n\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-19840\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/05\/Egypt0013.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"243\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most continue to believe a democratic government, rather than a strong leader, is best equipped to deal with the country\u2019s problems. Roughly six-in-ten (61%) hold this view, similar to last year\u2019s 64%, but significantly higher than the 50% registered in 2007.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opinions are divided, however, when Egyptians are asked to choose between democracy and the economy. About half (48%) say a good democracy is more important and about half (49%) say a strong economy should be the priority. Results on this question were almost exactly the same one year ago.<\/p>\n\n<h3 data-is-section=\"true\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;most-value-specific-democratic-rights-institutions&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/table-of-contents&quot;}\" id=\"most-value-specific-democratic-rights-institutions\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Most Value Specific Democratic Rights, Institutions<\/h3>\n\n<figure><img data-dominant-color=\"ecebe7\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ecebe7;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-19863 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pewresearch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/05\/Egypt00121.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"444\"><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Egyptians believe many key features of democracy are crucial to their country\u2019s future. Roughly eight-in-ten (81%) say it is very important to live in a country with a fair judicial system, and solid majorities rate a free press (62%), free speech (60%), and honest multiparty elections (58%) as very important.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other key democratic rights and institutions, while considered at least <em>somewhat <\/em>important by a majority of Egyptians, do not register as top priorities. In particular, only 24% say that having a military that is under control of civilian leaders is very important. Less than half say that equal rights for women (41%), religious freedom for minorities (38%), and uncensored internet access (35%) are very important.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while most Egyptians value democracy, it is clear that the economy and social order also rank as high priorities. About eight-in-ten (81%) believe improved economic conditions are very important and 60% say this about law and order.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As their country grapples with a difficult political transition, Egyptians continue to believe democracy is the best form of government and most trust it more than a strong leader to solve the nation\u2019s problems. Moreover, Egyptians not only value democracy in a general sense \u2013 they also value specific features of a democratic society. For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_api_pending":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_hidden":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-32102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","formats-report","research-teams-global"],"label":false,"post_parent":32351,"word_count":431,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[{"id":32351,"title":"Egyptians Remain Optimistic, Embrace Democracy and Religion in Political Life","slug":"egyptians-remain-optimistic-embrace-democracy-and-religion-in-political-life","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/egyptians-remain-optimistic-embrace-democracy-and-religion-in-political-life\/","is_active":false},{"id":32364,"title":"Chapter 1. National Conditions and Views About the Future","slug":"chapter-1-national-conditions-and-views-about-the-future","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-1-national-conditions-and-views-about-the-future\/","is_active":false},{"id":32085,"title":"Chapter 2. Key Leaders, Groups and Institutions","slug":"chapter-2-key-leaders-groups-and-institutions","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-2-key-leaders-groups-and-institutions\/","is_active":false},{"id":32102,"title":"Chapter 3. Attitudes Toward Democracy","slug":"chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-3-attitudes-toward-democracy\/","is_active":true},{"id":32116,"title":"Chapter 4. Role of Islam in Politics","slug":"chapter-4-role-of-islam-in-politics","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-4-role-of-islam-in-politics\/","is_active":false},{"id":32127,"title":"Chapter 5. Views of the United States and Israel","slug":"chapter-5-views-of-the-united-states-and-israel","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-5-views-of-the-united-states-and-israel\/","is_active":false},{"id":32142,"title":"Survey Methods","slug":"survey-methods-25","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/survey-methods-25\/","is_active":false}],"report_materials":[{"key":"0f5458d6-2556-43db-9df2-5cc1697603dd","type":"report","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/05\/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Project-Egypt-Report-FINAL-May-8-2012-2PM-ET.pdf","label":"","icon":"","attachmentId":""},{"key":"d208aae4-b270-4b95-976a-9fec566d3408","type":"topline","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/05\/Pew-Global-Attitudes-2012-Egypt-Report-Topline.pdf","label":"","icon":"","attachmentId":""},{"type":"dataset","id":1051,"label":"Spring 2012 Survey Data","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/dataset\/spring-2012-survey-data\/"}],"report_pagination":{"current_post":{"id":32102,"title":"Chapter 3. 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Key Leaders, Groups and Institutions","slug":"chapter-2-key-leaders-groups-and-institutions","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-2-key-leaders-groups-and-institutions\/","is_active":false,"page_num":3},"pagination_items":[{"id":32351,"title":"Egyptians Remain Optimistic, Embrace Democracy and Religion in Political Life","slug":"egyptians-remain-optimistic-embrace-democracy-and-religion-in-political-life","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/egyptians-remain-optimistic-embrace-democracy-and-religion-in-political-life\/","is_active":false,"page_num":1},{"id":32364,"title":"Chapter 1. National Conditions and Views About the Future","slug":"chapter-1-national-conditions-and-views-about-the-future","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-1-national-conditions-and-views-about-the-future\/","is_active":false,"page_num":2},{"id":32085,"title":"Chapter 2. 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Views of the United States and Israel","slug":"chapter-5-views-of-the-united-states-and-israel","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/chapter-5-views-of-the-united-states-and-israel\/","is_active":false,"page_num":6},{"id":32142,"title":"Survey Methods","slug":"survey-methods-25","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2012\/05\/08\/survey-methods-25\/","is_active":false,"page_num":7}]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Egyptians Remain Optimistic, Embrace Democracy and Religion in Political Life","parent_id":32351},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Chapter 3. Attitudes Toward Democracy","description":"As their country grapples with a difficult political transition, Egyptians continue to believe democracy is the best form of government and most trust it more than a strong leader to&hellip;","og_title":"Chapter 3. 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