62% of Jordanians believe Dahabi would succeed

By Mohammad Ben Hussein

AMMAN - Jordanians’ hopes on the government’s ability to shoulder its responsibilities have been steadily declining over the past 11 years, with a recent poll showing that 62 per cent of citizens believe the newly appointed government of Prime Minister Nader Dahabi would succeed in its mission.

The percentage is seven points lower than the previous government recorded, according to an opinion poll released on Tuesday by the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan. The most vexing conundrum troubling the general public is hikes in the prices of commodities, while improving the investment climate was the most pressing issue as far as opinion leaders are concerned.

Only 59 per cent of a national sample polled by the CSS between November 29 and December 4 believed that Dahabi’s 27-strong team will be successful, while the premier himself recorded 66 per cent of public trust.

Optimism levels recorded upon the formation of the governments of Marouf Bakhit, Adnan Badran, Faisal Fayez, Ali Abul Ragheb, Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh, Fayez Tarawneh, Abdul Salam Majali and Abdul Karim Kabariti were, according to CSS polls, respectively 69, 58, 60, 62, 75, 68, 53 and 77 per cent.

Opinion leaders expressed more faith than the general public in the government's capability to be successful in implementing its plans, with 68 per cent expressing trust in the team as a whole and as high as 77 per cent in Dahabi.

Businessmen were the most optimistic about Dahabi’s ability to do well (85 per cent), while only 56 per cent of political party leaders gave a thumbs up for the premier, who has had a good track record as the chief of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority over the past few years.

Tuesday’s survey is the latest in a series of polls that the CSS has conducted since 1996 on the expectations from and the performance of successive governments. Polls are scheduled when Cabinet members are sworn in, after 100 days, six months and one year in office.

The two-level poll involves two categories of respondents: a national sample and one of opinion leaders, including academicians, intellectuals, leading businessmen and politicians.

According to the CSS poll, 32.5 per cent of the general public would like to see the government put the problem of high prices on top of its scale of priorities, while not more than 1.3 per cent expressed interest in boosting security.

“For many years, poverty and unemployment topped the list of Jordanian interests, but the general public this year showed they are more interested in immediate problems, mainly the increased cost of living,” said Mohammad Masri, a researcher at the CSS.

One of the striking results of the poll is that citizens with meagre income (below JD249 a month) were more optimistic about the prospects of the government’s success, than those who earn between JD250-999 a month.

Among the national sample, the majority of respondents said they believe Dahabi will be able to implement the 15 issues mentioned in the Letter of Designation, making it the only one in the past three governments to receive such high expectations in this regard, said the survey.

Previous polls showed that the national sample expected Bakhit, Dahabi’s predecessor, to be successful in handling 17 out of 19 issues and Badran to succeed in 11 out of 16 issues his government was tasked with implementing.

One-third of respondents in the national sample said they were familiar to a great extent with the King’s Letter of Designation to Dahabi.

This percentage was as high as 73 among the opinion leaders.

When His Majesty King Abdullah appointed Dahabi last month, he entrusted him to work on improving the sluggish economy and improve the living conditions of citizens.

Dahabi adopted the Royal letter as his policy statement which he presented to the Lower House Monday.

The premier told lawmakers he would implement measures to revive the economy and help citizens cope with inflation, which has jumped to more than seven per cent in the past two years.

He promised to increase salaries of government, army and security personnel and improve the investment climate, in line with the King’s directives.