Declining satisfaction with a country’s direction—a measure that typically tracks with declining public support for a government in power—has been shown to precede mass anti-government protest, as the Arab Spring illustrated. For example, the end of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year reign followed a steady decline in Egyptians’ satisfaction with their country’s direction—from 55 percent of respondents in the Pew Charitable Trust surveys in 2006 to 28 percent in 2010. His successor, Muhammed Morsi, was forced out of office after public satisfaction with Egypt’s prospects plunged from the post-revolutionary high of 65 percent in 2011 to 30 percent in 2013. […]
Beyond the Polls: Google Queries and Public Protest Volatility in Russia
PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 278
By Mikhail Alexseev
September 2013
