The Zogby Analytics poll, published Tuesday, found a growing rate of anti-Americanism in Iraq and the wider Middle East.
The poll found the favorability rating for the US among Iraqis stands at just 9 percent.
Although the published data does not offer a breakdown of the numbers based on ethnicity, the center provided Rudaw with more detailed results showing US favorability ratings among Kurds are at less than 11 percent.
“Attitudes in Iraq have always been low toward the United States and remain low in single digit favorable ratings,” said James Zogby, director of Zogby Analytics.
“The numbers among Shiites and Sunnis are zero favorable ratings. Among Kurds [they’re] a little higher, but in the past have been very high and are not that high these days,” he added.
Historically, the Kurds of Iraq have admired the Americans for imposing the no-fly zone in 1991 which protected them from Saddam Hussein retribution – and ultimately helped create the Kurdistan Region.
However, many Kurds have found US policy to be less reliable since. Tuesday’s poll results come just over a year after an overwhelming majority of Iraqi Kurds voted for secession from Iraq in a referendum vehemently opposed by Washington.
Many Kurds were also frustrated when the US did not intervene to prevent the Iraqi Army and Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias taking over Kirkuk and the disputed territories by force in October 2017.
The poll, which surveyed more than 8,000 people in several Muslim-majority countries, threw up other interesting results. The US enjoys more support in Iran and Turkey than in Iraq.
Some 68 percent of Iranians view the US disfavorably, while in Turkey anti-American sentiment stands at 85 percent. Sanctions, trade tariffs, and foreign policy differences in the Middle East have contributed to this hostility.
The US enjoys its highest favorability ratings in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at 78 percent and 87 percent respectively.
The poll was conducted before the murder of Saudi critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Under pressure by legislators, US President Donald Trump has responded by sanctioning more than a dozen Saudi officials, and the US Congress is expected to sanction the oil-rich country’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, over the allegations that he masterminded the murder.
It is unclear how these measures will impact Saudi public opinion in the long-run.
When it comes to Iraq, however, the cause of anti-Americanism could have several sources.
Some see the ideological ties between Iran and Iraq’s majority Shiite populations as a key reason.
“A good part of the Shia community in Iraq has looked up to Iran for support and for ideological leadership,” said Alex Vatanka, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute. “Guess what comes with that? With that comes a good dose of anti-Americanism.”
Others would argue the resentment stems from US policy in Iraq – the failure to support the 1991 Shiite and Kurdish uprisings, the crippling sanctions of the 1990s, and the violence and mismanagement that followed the US-led toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003. America, for some, is the author of Iraq’s present instability.
As for the wider Middle East, Trump has no doubt upset public opinion in the Arab world when he chose to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. On the flipside, his tough stance on Iran – although alienating America’s European allies – may have raised his stock in Sunni-majority countries.
David Pollock, a Washington Institute analyst, says anti-Americanism, however, does not necessarily mean a lack of willingness in Baghdad or Erbil to build political alliances with Washington.
“A lot of people don’t like us so much, but they still want us to work with them,” he said.
