Q1 Syria needs<\/a>? Q2 Will you vote for Bashar Al-Assad in direct Presidential elections in Syria<\/a>? Q3 Will you vote for Bashar Al-Assad next Presidential referendum<\/a>? Q4 If a referendum was held today, are you for nominating Assad for another term<\/a>? Q5 Would you accept someone other than President Assad as your President<\/a>? Q6 Which number is larger on Facebook?<\/a> Q7 Is Assad qualified to govern?<\/a> Q8 do you want Assad to remain President of Syria<\/a> Q9 Do you support President Assad<\/a> Q10 If elections were held, who do you want?<\/a> <\/p>\n Popularity of demonstrators, their allies, demands and strategies <\/strong><\/p>\n Q11 Are you for changing the shape or colors of the Syrian flag<\/a>? Q12 Do you support stopping the protests in Syria to give a chance to reforms<\/a> Q13 Are you for, or against Aljazeera<\/a>? Q14 Do you support a UN resolution on Syria<\/a>? Q15 Do you support Turkish military intervention in Syria<\/a>? Q16 Do you support Russia\u2019s policy towards Syria<\/a>? Q17 Do you support Arab sanctions against the Syrian regime?<\/a> Q18 Who is responsible for the deteriorating situation in Syria<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Analysis<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The overall average (53 %) and mode (most frequently recurring statistic) for the President\u2019s popularity type questions (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9) are similar to results of other related questions\/variables (as in Q12 and Q18). This suggests that despite all the shortcomings of the surveys, they do have a high degree of “internal consistency reliability”, the results for one cluster of questions measuring one concept (support) are consistent with other results measuring related variables\/concepts.<\/p>\n Like other online polls, Facebook polls have only limited validity and reliability. Only those who own a computer and a Facebook account can answer them; the strongly opinionated are more likely to answer them than the undecided. When a question measuring popularity is asked by a Facebook page that attracts a biased community of Syrians (or Syrians and Arabs), the final results tend to reflect some of that bias especially for smaller sample sizes. Questions that originate in pro-revolution pages tend to still make it to the general community of Syrians and when they do (at larger sample sizes) the results are mostly close to the 50% mark (See Q7), and almost all results are still in Assad\u2019s favor. Some Questions by pro regime pages even reveal results that are as high as 75% pro Assad (see Q3).Only biased and limiting questions (ex: Freedom or Assad?) result in a slightly less than 50% for President Assad but another way to read those is that President Assad\u2019s diehard fans (they will vote for him even if he does not reform) might alone count for over 40% (see Q1)<\/p>\n In addition to the majority support Assad enjoys, the even larger majority that voted against Al-Jazeera, Turkish military intervention in Syria, an Arab boycott of Syria, changing the colors of the Syrian flag or against a UN vote targeting Syria, should be construed by policy makers in Washington and \u201cthe international community\u201d that they are interfering on the side of a minority of Syrians and against the wishes of a clear majority. All the questions which measured the popularity of the protesters\u2019 demands and their tactics revealed that the protesters\u2019 tactics are not supported by Syrians at large.<\/p>\n Domestic support for Assad may be even higher given the large number of non-Syrian Arabs respondents particularly on al-Jazeera facebook page. The Arab public\u2019s noted sympathy for the revolutionaries may well skew the results in the latter\u2019s favour. For example, in one survey which asked if Egyptian respondents favored kicking out the Syrian Ambassador to Egypt, 60,000 (88%) of respondents said yes<\/a>, while only 8,000 (12%) said no. Tunisians often demonstrate<\/a> in large numbers in support of a revolution in Syria, while Saudis listen to endless lectures by TV preachers telling them dramatic stories<\/a> of Alawite regime crimes against Syrian Muslims.<\/p>\n Moreover, in one Doha Debates(Qatar foundation)\u00a0 episode\u00a0 in response to a question asking if President Assad should resign, a historic vote of 91% of the mostly Arab audience said Assad should go away<\/a>. All left that room convinced that they were supporting the Syrian people in their struggle. The same Qatar foundation conducted an online poll asking if the Syrian President should resign: 81% of their Arab respondents said he should whereas 55% of their Syrian respondents said they wanted him to remain in power. The poll was published<\/a> and reported<\/a> widely although its sample was heavily biased and small (1000 people participating, of which only 97 are Syrian).<\/p>\n Having said that, the overwhelming votes in favor of preserving Syria\u2019s integrity, national security and symbols implies that despite the large number of Arab respondents, these Facebook polls also attracted a large number of Syrian respondents.<\/p>\n It is clear from these 18 Facebook polls that at least among the more decided group of Syrian Facebook users, President Assad enjoys a comfortable margin of support. Although many support freedom and democracy in general, or object to the President running for office again in 2014, the revolution\u2019s specific positions and demands have little support. While respondents are almost evenly split on Russia\u2019s position on Syria<\/a>, there is much less support for an Arab boycott of Syria<\/a>, little support for a UN resolution against Syria<\/a> and near zero support for Turkish intervention<\/a>. Interestingly, even among Arab viewers, it seems there was little tolerance for Aljazeera<\/a>\u2019s one-sided pro-revolution coverage.<\/p>\n The Syrian opposition leadership fared even worse with a statistically insignificant number of supporters for Burhan Ghalioun. Ghalioun\u2019s failure to garner more than 0.12% of popular support (Q10) is a clear indication of the international community\u2019s failure to pay attention to the Syrian people\u2019s real preferences.<\/p>\n The opposition\u2019s tactics did not win much approval either with a majority of respondents supporting dialogue rather than protests, and a similar number blaming the revolutionaries for prolonging the crisis. Viewed in combination with the even greater numbers who reject foreign intervention, it is increasingly apparent that neither the objectives nor the tactics of the SNC represent the aspirations and preferences of the vast majority of Syrians.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, these conclusions remain tentative considering the large number of Syrians who are not represented by these polls, such as the many poor and uneducated who cannot access Facebook. Syrians on Facebook who have an opinion either way, are split between those with almost unqualified support for President Assad and those who want democracy now. But as noted above, even this latter group of regime opponents is clearly not impressed with those who are leading the movement which claims to speak in their name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nAnswers: Freedom (<\/strong>4<\/strong>2,103)<\/strong>, Bashar Al-Assad (40,992)
\nBiases: Poll started within a biased pro opposition community. The bias inherent in this question is twofold: in the first place, it is a \u201cloaded\u201d question in that it introduces a value bias (concept of freedom) which is contrasted against Assad (by implication, authoritarian). Second, the categories freedom and Assad are not mutually exclusive for many of the respondents, thereby forcing them to choose between either Freedom or Bashar Al-Assad. This eliminates many of the votes for the Syrian President by those who value freedom the most but believe that Al-Assad should lead the country to reforms and freedom. Despite these biases the results are close to a tie.<\/p>\n
\nYes (22,111)<\/strong>, No (13,102)
\nNo apparent biases.<\/p>\n
\nYes (27,642)<\/strong>, No (8,947)
\nBiases: Question originated within a biased pro President community.<\/p>\n
\nYes (47,615)<\/strong>, No (42,448)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community.<\/p>\n
\nNo (22,277)<\/strong>, Yes (19,072)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro President community, however, the question itself introduces a counter bias as it seems to force the respondent to vote for an absolute right for Bashar Al-Assad as a President of Syria.<\/p>\n
\nAssad supporters (40,652)<\/strong>, Assad opponents (39,749)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community<\/p>\n
\nYes (87,915), No (93,473)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community<\/p>\n
\nYes (40,549), <\/strong>No (33,659)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community.<\/p>\n
\nYes (22,957)<\/strong>, No (22.523)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro Assad community.<\/p>\n
\nBashar Assad (14,513)<\/strong>, Burhan Ghalioun (1,903), Adnan Arour (289)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs (Aljazeera).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nNo (20,593)<\/strong>, Yes (578)
\nBiases: none<\/p>\n
\nYes (50,303)<\/strong>, No (42,667)
\nBiases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs (Aljazeera poll)<\/p>\n
\nFor (21,562), Against (37,179)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated in what appears to be a pro-opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs.<\/p>\n
\nYes (16,988), No (30,589)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs (Aljazeera poll)<\/p>\n
\nYes (425), No (15,339)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated in a pro opposition community.<\/p>\n
\nYes (31,028)<\/strong>, No (28,819)
\nBiases: Poll originated in community that includes both pro-Assad Syrians but also includes many non-Syrian Arabs who are mostly pro-opposition.<\/p>\n
\nYes (11,105), NO (20,100)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs (Aljazeera poll)<\/p>\n
\nThe regime (15,798), the opposition (17,803)
\n<\/strong>Biases: Poll originated within a pro opposition community that includes many non-Syrian Arabs (Aljazeera poll)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/creativesyria.com\/syriapage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/facebook-chart.jpg\" "\\"Syria")
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