With all the geopolitical tumult and news I was a bit curious to see what The World Values Survey could tell us about public opinion in Egypt and Tunisia. Unfortunately, Tunisia hasn't been in any of their surveys, though Egypt has. So I thought it might be interesting to compare the USA, Sweden, Turkey, Egypt, and Iraq, for wave 5, which occurred in the mid-2000s. The main thing I took away from the exercise is to reflect that Americans are a more equivocal people than I had expected. Many of the questions have a 1 to 10 scale, and I'm providing the most extreme answers. So the low fractions for Americans for some questions point to a relative moderation on some topics...which is kind of weird when you are asking whether "People choosing their leaders is an essential characteristic of democracy." Since that's the definition of democracy broadly construed anything below a 10 out of 10 seems strange to me.
(Control + should increase font-size if it is too small)
USASwedenTurkeyEgyptIraq
Religion “very important”479759596
Politics “very important”111613937
Family life “very important”9592999896
Most people can be trusted396851941
Satisfied with life (10 out of 10)71221113
Great deal of control of life (10 out of 10)171624149
Men have more right to job than women72538984
Trust family completely73949596-
Approve of woman as single parent524992-
University more important for boy than girl1072625
Government ownership of business should be increased (10 out of 10)12122522
Hard work brings better life (10 out of 10)1982152
Great deal of confidence in armed forces3546734
Great deal of confidence in police171336--
Great deal of confidence in government5328-31
Very good for political system to have strong leader7423811
Very good to have democratic system4576577955
Complete agree, too much science, not enough faith1242014
Religious authorities interpreting laws is an essential characteristic of democracy20114819
People choosing their leaders is an essential characteristic of democracy5679487958
Protecting civil liberties is an essential characteristic of democracy4466445747
Women having sames rights as men is an essential characteristic of democracy5784575127
Cheating on taxes always justifiable2101
Accepting bribe always justifiable10001
Homosexuality always justifiable15611--
Abortion always justifiable7372-1
Divorce always justifiable1247591
Don't trust at all people of other religion533022-
Don't trust at all people of other nationality522940-
