- Two-thirds (63%) of Saudi youth say their country’s relations with the US will improve under President Biden; the rest believe it will remain the same
- 70% of young Saudis have a ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ favourable view of the president
- Saudi youth are more likely to say the US is an ally now than at any point in the last five years
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: July 14, 2022: An overwhelming majority (92%) of young Saudis, who form about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia’s population, see the United States as an ally of their nation, with 59 per cent stating the US is a ‘strong ally’ and 33 per cent citing it as ‘somewhat of an ally.’
This finding from the 13th edition of the annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey was announced today ahead of the historic visit of US President Joe Biden to the Kingdom on July 15 and 16, 2022. President Biden’s visit, upon the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is expected to enhance the historic and strategic partnership between the two nations.
As President Biden observed in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, “Today, Saudi Arabia has helped to restore unity among the six countries of Gulf Cooperation Council, has fully supported the truce in Yemen and is now working with my experts to help stabilize oil markets with other OPEC producers.”
According to the survey, the perception that the US is an ally of Saudi Arabia is at its highest level in five years. In 2020, 87 per cent of Saudi youth viewed the US as a ‘strong ally’ or ‘somewhat of an ally’, an increase in favourability over 2019 when 70 per cent of Saudi youth viewed the US as an ally. In 2018, 50 per cent of Saudi youth viewed the US as an ally.
The symbolism of Biden’s arrival in the Kingdom, following his first official visit to Israel, will not be lost on young Saudis, three-quarters (75%) of whom believe addressing the ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict’ should be a top priority for the Arab world.
Despite the broadly positive perception of President Biden, young Saudi men and women believe he has work to do on the Palestine-Israel question, with 93 per cent insisting his administration “should have a played a more active and unbiased role in resolving the conflict.” A majority of young Saudis (73%) are confident that the conflict is ‘very likely’ to ‘somewhat likely’ to be resolved in the next five years.
Sunil John, President, MENA, BCW and Founder of ASDA’A BCW, said: “The findings from our survey reflect the optimism surrounding Biden’s first visit to the Kingdom as the US president. The generally warm feelings young people have towards US, and their eagerness for peace across the region, especially in resolving the Palestinian conflict, show the value to be had from a reset of US-Saudi relations to achieve a more stable and stronger Middle East geopolitical order.”
Underlining the strategic role of the US in the region, over one-third (36%) of young Saudis believe the US has the most influence in the Arab world among non-Arab nations, compared with 43 per cent of Saudi youth who say their own country is the most influential among Arab nations in the region.
Over two-thirds of young Saudis (63%) are also confident that their country’s relations with the US will improve under President Biden, while the rest (37%) believe relations between the two countries will remain the same.
Almost all young Saudis (97%) are confident that their country is going in the right direction; 82 per cent agreed with the statement that ‘our best days are ahead of us.’
For the largest-of-its-kind survey of the Arab world’s largest demographic, which was unveiled in October last year, PSB Insights, the global strategic research and analytics specialist, conducted 3,400 face-to-face interviews with Arab youth aged between 18 and 24 in 50 cities and territories in 17 states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from June 6-30, 2021.
To know more about the findings and to download the white paper of the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, log on to arabyouthsurvey.com
About the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey
The Annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, launched in 2008, is the largest survey of its kind of the Arab world’s largest demographic – its over 200 million youth. The survey fills an important gap in the data and insights on this influential community. It informs governments, the private sector, multilateral institutions, and academia on policymaking and future strategy.
The 13th Annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey 2021, conducted by the international research firm PSB Insights, explores the hopes, fears and aspirations of Arabs aged 18 to 24 across 50 cities and territories in 17 states in the Middle East and North Africa.
A total of 3,400 face-to-face interviews were carried out between June 6 and June 30, 2021, in both Arabic and English, with male and female citizens of each country. The cohort was split equally between men and women. The survey covers five Gulf Cooperation Council states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia), the Levant region (Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria) and Yemen.
www.arabyouthsurvey.com
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About ASDA’A BCW
ASDA’A was founded in 2000 as an independent communications firm by Sunil John, who leads the agency in its 22nd year. In 2008, WPP (NYSE: WPP) acquired a majority stake in ASDA’A and merged it with BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), one of the world’s top three communications firms. The agency has a team of over 160 professionals across its seven wholly owned offices. With an additional 11 affiliates, ASDA’A BCW covers 16 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. The agency serves over 100 retained clients and is the leading PR consultancy in the MENA market.
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About BCW
BCW is the global communications agency that moves people on behalf of clients. BCW partners with clients in the B2B, consumer, corporate, crisis management, healthcare, public affairs, purpose and technology sectors to set strategic direction for all communications and create powerful and unexpected ideas that earn attention. Through an ‘earned-plus’ offer – earned media plus paid media, creative technology, data, AI and an expanding suite of innovative capabilities – BCW moves people with power and precision to move its clients forward. BCW is a part of WPP (NYSE: WPP), a creative transformation company.