WASHINGTON - Iran’s favorability rating among Iraqis has hit its lowest point in years, falling below the popular support the United States enjoys in the war-torn country, according to a new poll by an independent agency.
The poll, released Monday, was conducted by the Baghdad-based Independent Institute of Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS), the Iraq representative of the Washington-based Gallup for polling.
“In general, Iraqis neither favor Iran nor the United States, but for the first time in a long time we see the favorability of the United States among Iraqis [being] double the favorability of Iran,” Munqith Dagher, president of IIACSS, said in a webinar hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“This is a new phenomenon in the Iraqi political theater,” he added.
Dagher, who is also a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, shared a breakdown of the results with VOA, showing that Iran’s favorability rating at only 15% while at least one third of Iraqis favored the U.S.
This is a sharp downturn for Iran from 2017 when it received a positive attitude from 70% of Iraqis, said Dagher.
