Yet according to a pre-election poll by the Arab Center for Research and Policy studies, Saudis overwhelmingly favoured Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.
More than two-thirds of Saudis polled supported Clinton with about the same number believing that a Clinton victory would have positively impacted the region. Forty-six percent also believed a Trump presidency would be bad for the Middle East.
Across Arab countries, 66 percent of those polled favoured Clinton, while just 11 percent said they supported Trump.