WASHINGTON, 28 April — International pollster John Zogby is on a roll. His company became a household name in the United States as the only US national polling firm to accurately predict — to the percentage point — the outcome of the 1996 elections, when President Bill Clinton beat Senator Robert Dole. Now the company is expanding internationally, and its latest poll is about information technology – and the Arab world. The latest poll was taken by 210 participants who attended the recent Arab Information Technology Conference in Cairo last month. They represented business and government, and 90 percent were from the Arab word.
“Those polled were Egyptians, Saudis, Lebanese, Jordanians, and Palestinians. The other 10 percent polled came from Europe and non-Arab countries,” John Zogby, an American of Lebanese descent, told Arab News. The poll concluded that the majority of those polled, 57 percent, thought the prospects for the development of information technology are very good, while 13 percent responded negatively. Three in five (61 percent) said they were either “very optimistic” or “somewhat optimistic” about prospects for more cooperation in the Arab World.
A majority (55 percent) also expressed optimism for the prospect of forming a regional economic market, but 38 percent were pessimistic about such a possibility.
Polled conference attendees gave low marks for current IT efforts in the Arab world. They rated the Arab counties as less developed in IT than a number of developing nations and regions of the world.
“People said that during the next 3-to-5 years, the Arab world would experience tremendous IT growth. Their countries are currently rated lower than India, Pakistan and South Africa,” said Zogby, who conducted the poll with the Cairo-based ARTOC Research and Development.
