Egyptians trusted Armed Forces to 'steer the country in positive direction' after 2011 Revolution: unclassified emails

CAIRO – 13 October 2020: Former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A McHale sent Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton Cheril D Mills and Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to Hillary Clinton Jacob Sullivan an email on March 21, 2011 containing a summary of a poll carried out online to determine the views of the Egyptian people after the January 25 Revolution.

The poll determined that citizens aged between 18 and 24, and between 25 and 34 trusted the Egyptian Armed Forces "to steer the country's future in a positive direction" by 79.4 percent and 84.1 percent, respectively.

More than three quarters of both lower-income and higher-income segments trusted the Egyptian Armed Forces as the figures were 83.5 percent and 76.9 percent, respectively.

The favored groups ranked as following with none of the civilian groups trusted by more than a third of respondents and with the Muslim Brotherhood recording only 7.7 percent:

1) Egyptian Army (80.4%)

2) Pro-democracy civil society/NGOs (34%)

3) Youth/student groups (31.7%)

4) Egyptian Intelligence Service (15.6%)

5) Omar Suleiman (7.8%)

6) Muslim Brotherhood (7.7%)

7) Business leaders/business groups (7.6%)

Here is an excerpt of the email:

"Issues that Matter Most

■ The following issues are among the most important for 97% of respondents between the ages of 18 - 24:

Access to employment/job opportunities

Security

Youth rights

More female respondents than male respondents indicate that women's rights and protection are somewhat or very important (96.8% and 85.3%, respectively).

Of those with a college-level education and above, approximately 29.2% identify free and fair elections as the priority issue area, compared to 20.9% of those who do not have a college education.

Demonstrations and the Revolution

■ Most respondents believe that the demonstrations represented them and their interests (92.6%)

The majority of respondents between the ages of 18-24 believe that the demonstrations represented them and their interests (91.6%)

The majority of respondents credit youth with initiating the demonstrations (61%); however, the percentage of those who credit the internet/social media is noteworthy (10.4%)

Of the groups in Tahrir Square, respondents overall most identify with the Egyptian Army (54.8%), while the Muslim Brotherhood ranks fifth at 11.5%

Among the majority of youth ages 18-24, the Egyptian Army is also the group they most identify with in Tahrir Square (54.6%)"