President's approval rate during 8 months (Photo courtesy of Baseera Website) Baseera, the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research, conducted its periodic poll to track President Mohamed Morsi's approval ratings after eight months in office. The results showed a continued decline in approval ratings. The percentage of those who approve of his performance fell to 49% from 53% at the end of the seventh month and 78% at the end of Morsi's first 100 days in office. This is the first time Morsi's approval rating has fallen to less than 50%. At the same time, the percentage of those who disapproved rose to 43% from 39% by the end of the seventh month in office and 15% by the end of the first 100 days. The approval rating of the President is only 35% among university graduates, compared to about 54% among those with less than intermediate education. At the same time, the percentage of those who would re-elect Morsi if elections were held tomorrow continued to decline, reaching 35% compared to 39% at the end of the seventh month and 58% at the end of the first 100 days in office. The poll conducted this month included a number of questions about the National Salvation Front (NSF). The results show that 35% of Egyptians have never heard of the NSF. This percentage rises to 45% in rural areas, compared to about 24% in urban areas. The percentage of those who have never heard of the NSF is about 20% in urban governorates compared to 39% in Lower and Upper Egypt. Moreover, half of those who have less than intermediate education have not heard of the NSF, compared to 7% of university graduates. Respondents familiar with the NSF were asked whether they support the Front. The results indicate that 35% do support it, 53% do not, and 12% are undecided or have no opinion about the NSF. The percentage of supporters is higher in Lower Egypt governorates, reaching 42%, versus 35% in urban governorates and 27% in Upper Egypt. Supporters and opponents of the NSF were asked about their views on its performance. Around 12% evaluated its performance as good, 33% as average, and 42% as poor. The rest of the respondents were undecided. These percentages vary considerably between NSF supporters and non-supporters. The percentage of those who perceive the NSF's performance as good is as high as 33% among supporters, compared to only 1% among opponents. Similarly, the percentage of those who see its performance as average is 58% among supporters compared to only 17% among non-supporters. The percentage of those who perceive its performance as poor was only 3% among supporters compared to 75% among non-supporters. When respondents familiar with the NSF were asked their views about the best political figure, Amr Moussa came first (19%), followed by Hamdein Sabbahi (12%), and Mohamed ElBaradei (6%). However, 27% reported either that there was no worthy political figure or that they were all undeserving of praise, while 29% were undecided. Baseera Website: www.baseera.com.eg
