JMCC Public Opinion Poll No. 28
On Palestinian Attitudes Towards the Palestinian cabinet reshuffle
August 1998
The results of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre public opinion poll were negative for a majority of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with respect to the newly Cabinet, and were pessimistic about the performance of the Authority. Only 20.3% of those polled said that the Cabinet change made them more optimistic about the future performance of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in comparison to 33.6% who expressed pessimism about the future performance of the PA, and 40.2% said that there wan not change in their optimism or pessimism as a result of his change.
A majority of those polled did not support a vote of confidence in the new Cabinet by the Legislative Council, only 31.4% said that the Legislative Council should give a vote of confidence in the new Cabinet, while 38.6% said that the Legislative Council must give the new Cabinet a non-confidence vote, 27% did not know, and 3% did not answer the question.
This change did not bring any change in the confidence of the public in President Arafat, with 23.8% of those polled said that the Cabinet change increased their confidence in President Arafat, 23.3% said that the Cabinet change decreased their confidence in President Arafat, while the majority 48.4% said that the Cabinet change did not affect their confidence in President Arafat.
With majority of 77.5% believing that there is corruption in the PA, only 23.4% of respondents said that the latest Cabinet change will help deal with the problem of corruption in the PA, while 33.4% said that this Cabinet change will increase the problem of corruption in the PA, and 37.9% said that this will not have any change in corruption in the PA.
With repect to the resignations of two of the ministers as a result of the Cabinet change, 32.1% of those polled supported the resignations and 26.5% opposed the resignations, while 22.3% of respondents did not know there any resignations, 14.7% had no opinions, and 4.4% did not respond to the question.
A random sample of 1,204 Palestinians, over the age of 18 years, were interviewed throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 8 August 1998. The interviews were conducted on face to face basis on busy street corners in the main towns
In the West Bank, 765 people were surveyed from the following areas: Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalailia, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah, al-Bireh.
In the Gaza Strip, 439 people were surveyed from: Gaza City, Rafah, Maghazi, al-Bureij, Beit Hanoun, Nusseirat, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Lahia.
The margin of error is 3 percent, with a confidence level of 95.
Q.1 How knowledgeable are you in the cabinet reshuffle?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Very knowledgeable |
19.4% |
16.5% |
24.4% |
| Somewhat knowledgeable |
59.5% |
60.8% |
57.2% |
| No knowledge at all |
19.6% |
21.3% |
16.6% |
| No answer |
1.5% |
1.4% |
1.8% |
Q.2 Waht do you think abou the new cabinet reshuffle; did it make you more optimistic or more pessimistic, abou the perforemance of the PA?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip | |
| More optimistic |
20.3% |
19.7% |
21.2% |
| More pessimistic |
33.6% |
33.9% |
33.3% |
| Did not change my opinion |
40.2% |
40.4% |
39.9% |
| No answer |
5.9% |
6.0% |
5.6% |
Q.3 Do you think the Palestinian Legislative Council must grant or deny the new cabinet reshuffle a vote of confidence?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Must grant a vote of confidence |
31.4% |
28.1% |
37.1% |
| Deny the vote of confidence |
38.6% |
37.8% |
40.1% |
| I do not know |
27.0% |
31.1% |
19.8% |
| No answer |
3.0% |
3.0% |
3.0% |
Q. 4 Did the new cabinet reshuffle increase or decrease your support to President Arafat, or did it make no change?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Increased my support |
23.8% |
22.2% |
26.7% |
| decreased my supoort |
23.3% |
23.4% |
23.0% |
| Did not make any change in my position |
48.4% |
49.8% |
46.0% |
| No answer |
4.5% |
4.6% |
4.3% |
Q.5 Who is the current head of the Labor Party?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Yes |
77.5% |
73.7% |
84.1% |
| No |
20.7% |
24.7% |
13.7% |
| No answer |
1.8% |
1.6% |
2.2% |
Q.6 Do you believe that the recent cabinet reshuffle will lead to an increase in corruption or deal with the corruption problem or it won't make any change?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| Will increase corruption |
33.4% |
38.1% |
26.3% |
| Will deal with the corruption problem |
23.4% |
24.3% |
22.0% |
| Will not make any change regarding the corruption problem |
37.9% |
33.0% |
45.5% |
| No answer |
15.3% |
4.6% |
6.2% |
Q. 7 Do you support or oppose the follwoing expressions:
Total
|
Support |
Oppose |
No answer |
|
| The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC |
41.4% |
46.5% |
12.1% |
| The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better |
34.6% |
56.8% |
8.6% |
| The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet |
45.1% |
44.6% |
10.3% |
| Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA |
47.8% |
42.4% |
9.8% |
| The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity |
44.9% |
44.5% |
10.6% |
West Bank
|
Support |
Oppose |
No answer |
|
| The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC |
41.0% |
47.6% |
11.4% |
| The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better |
32.2% |
58.3% |
9.5% |
| The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet |
44.2% |
45.0% |
10.8% |
| Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA |
47.5% |
42.6% |
9.9% |
| The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity |
49.0% |
41.4% |
9.6% |
Gaza Strip
|
Support |
Oppose |
No answer |
|
| The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC |
41.9% |
44.6% |
13.5% |
| The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better |
38.7% |
54.2% |
7.1% |
| The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet |
4.7% |
44.0% |
93% |
| Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA |
48.3% |
42.1% |
9.6% |
| The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity |
37.6% |
49.9% |
12.5% |
Q. 8 Do you support or oppose the resignation submitted by two of the ministers in the recent cabinet reshuffle?
|
Total |
West Bank |
Gaza Strip |
|
| I support |
32.1% |
29.5% |
36.7% |
| I oppose |
26.5% |
25.6% |
28.0% |
| I do not know about the resignations |
22.3% |
22.4% |
22.1% |
| I have no opinion |
14.7% |
17.1% |
10.5% |
| No answer |
4.4% |
5.4% |
2.7% |