JMCC Public Opinion Poll No. 23
On Palestinian Attitudes Towards Current Issues
November 1997
Results of JMCC's November public opinion poll indicate a significat change in Palestinian public opinion on a number of political issues, which appears due largely to certain significant political events which occured over the past three months. The main aspects of this shift in attitude can be summarized as follows:
A random sample of 1,10 Palestinians, over the age of 18 years, were interviewed throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 19, 20 and 21 November 1997. The interviews were conducted on randomly selected homes, and the subjects inside each home were also selected randomly according to Kish tables. The interviews were conducted in 60 sampling points chosen randomly according to population.
In the West Bank, 749 people were surveyed from the following areas: Jerusalem: Od city, Beit Hanina, al-Ram, Dahyat al-Barid, al-'Izaria, Jabal al-Mukaber. Bethlehem: Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Deiheishe Refugee Camp (RC). Hebron: Hebron, Halhoul, Beit Ummar, Bani Na'im, Dura, Sa'ir, Yatta. Jenin: Jenin, Jenin RC, Ya'bad, Yamoun, 'Arabeh, Zababdeh.Tulkarem: Tulkarem, Tuklarem RC, Anbat, Far'oun, 'Illar. Qalqilia: Qalqilia. Nablus: Nablus, Balta RC, Beit Fureek, Beit Dajan, Salfit, Hiwara, 'Ain Abous. Ramallah: Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jalzon RC, Jifna, Deir Abu Masha'el, Biddu, Ramun. Jericho: Jericho, 'Aqbat Jabr.
In the Gaza Strip, 431 people were surveyed from: Gaza city (Rimal, Sheikh Radwan, Shujaiya, Nasir, Sabra, Zeitoun), Shati RC, Khan Younis, Khan Younis RC, 'Abassan, Bani Suhelia, Rafah, Barazil, Rafah RC, Jabalia, Jabalia RC, Deir al-Balah, Deir al-Balah RC, Bureij RC, Nusseirat RC, Maghazi RC.
The major of error is plus or minus 3% with a confidence level of 95%.
Q.1 How optimistic or pessimitic are your towards the future in general? Can you say you are very optimistic, optimistic, pessimistic or very pessimistic?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very optimistic |
6.3% |
5.6% |
7.4% |
| Optimistic |
66.1% |
66.5% |
65.4% |
| Pessimistic |
20.3% |
21.0% |
19.0% |
| Very Pessimistic |
5.8% |
5.6% |
6.3% |
| No answer |
1.5% |
1.3% |
1.9% |
Q.2 In general, do you support or oppose the current peace process between the Palestinians and Israel? Do you strongly support, somewhat support, strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip | |
| Strongly support |
31.9% |
33.9% |
28.5% |
| Somewhat support |
42.3% |
40.6% |
45.2% |
| Strongly oppose |
9.4% |
10.1% |
8.1% |
| Somewhat oppose |
12.7% |
11.9% |
14.2% |
| No opinion / do not know |
2.5% |
2.5% |
2.3% |
| No answer |
1.2% |
1.0% |
1.7% |
Q.3 Do you support or oppose the continuation of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis? Do you strongly support or somewhat support or strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Strongly support |
33.3% |
34.0% |
32.0% |
| Somewhat support |
39.4% |
37.5% |
42.7% |
| Strongly oppose |
11.5% |
12.6% |
9.7% |
| Somewhat oppose |
11.7% |
11.6% |
11.8% |
| No opinion / do not know |
2.5 |
2.5% |
2.6% |
| No answer |
1.6% |
1.8% |
1.2% |
Q. 4 How confident are you that the Palestinians and Israelis will reach a satisfactory agreement on final-status issues?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very confident |
7.4% |
7.2% |
7.7% |
| Somewhat confident |
40.8% |
39.1% |
43.9% |
| Not confident |
30.2% |
31.2% |
28.3% |
| Not confident at all |
17.5% |
17.6% |
17.4% |
| No answer |
4.1% |
4.9% |
2.7% |
Q.5 Which Palestinian Personality do you trust most?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Yasser Arafat |
46.4% |
42.6% |
52.9% |
| Ahmed Yasin |
5.8% |
4.1% |
8.6% |
| Hadiar Abdul Shafi |
5.3% |
6.4% |
3.2% |
| Sa'eb Erekat |
2.7% |
2.9% |
2.3% |
| Hanan Ashrawi |
2.0% |
2.4% |
1.4% |
| Faisal Husseini |
1.4% |
1.3% |
1.6% |
| George Habash |
1.3% |
1.5% |
0.9% |
| Other personalties |
8.5% |
9.1% |
7.4% |
| Do not trust anyone |
16.9% |
18.3% |
14.4% |
| No answer |
9.7% |
11.4% |
7.3% |
Q.6 How did the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel affected our economy?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very positive |
1.9% |
1.7% |
2.1% |
| Positive |
17.3% |
19.4% |
13.7% |
| Negative |
42.6% |
42.3% |
43.2% |
| Very negative |
25.7% |
22.4% |
31.3% |
| Did not have an effect at all |
7.8% |
9.6% |
4.6% |
| No answer |
4.7% |
4.6% |
5.1% |
Q. 7 Which Palestinian political or religious faction you trust most?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Fateh |
40.9% |
38.2% |
45.7% |
| Hamas |
17.3% |
16.3% |
19.0% |
| PFLP |
2.0% |
2.0% |
2.1% |
| Islamic Jihad |
1.8% |
0.9% |
3.2% |
| DFLP |
0.9% |
1.1% |
0.7% |
| PPP |
0.7% |
0.9% |
0.2% |
| FIDA |
0.4% |
0.7% |
0.0% |
| Other Islamic Faction |
3.0% |
4.1% |
0.9% |
| Other Factions |
1.2% |
1.2% |
1.2% |
| Do not trust anyone |
17.3% |
17.4% |
17.2% |
| No answer |
14.5% |
17.2% |
9.8% |
Q. 8 In general, how do you evaluate the Palestinian Authority's performance? Do you say its performance is very good, good, bad or very bad?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very good |
12.0% |
10.3% |
15.1% |
| Good |
59.4% |
60.6% |
57.3% |
| Bad |
17.1% |
17.4% |
16.7% |
| Very bad |
7.3% |
6.8% |
8.1% |
| No answer |
4.2% |
4.9% |
2.8% |
Q.9 Do you support or oppose the method that the President Yasser Arafat administers his work as the National Authority's President? Strongly support, somewhat support, strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Strongly support |
36.2% |
33.9% |
40.1% |
| Somewhat support |
34.4% |
34.3% |
34.6% |
| Strongly oppose |
7.1% |
7.9% |
5.8% |
| Somewhat oppose |
14.2% |
14.8% |
13.2% |
| No opinion / do not know |
5.3% |
6.0% |
4.2% |
| No answer |
2.8% |
3.1% |
2.1% |
Q.10 In your opinion, how spread is the corruption, if found in the Palestinian Authority's (PA) institutions? It is very spread, fairly spread, little spread, or not spread at all / no corruption?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very spread |
28.3% |
27.5% |
29.7% |
| Fairly spread |
35.1% |
35.4% |
34.6% |
| Little spread |
18.6% |
17.1% |
21.1% |
| Not spread at all / no corruption |
6.9% |
6.8% |
7.2% |
| No opinion / do not know |
8.3% |
10.9% |
3.7% |
| No answer |
2.8% |
2.3% |
3.7% |
Q.11 What about the Palestinian Authority's (PA) attempts to deal with the corruption issue. Do you think that the PA is working greatly, working enough, or it is not doing enough to deal with corruption? (This question asked only to those who didn't answer not spread at all / no corruption in Q. 10 above)
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Greatly |
7.4% |
7.8% |
6.8% |
| Enough |
33.4% |
31.1% |
37.5% |
| Not doing enough |
47.8% |
47.0% |
49.2% |
| No opinion / do not know |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
| No answer |
11.3% |
14.0% |
6.5% |