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According to
respondents, the most important problems facing Jordan today are
the rising cost of living (46.1%), unemployment (24.2%), and
poverty (12.2%). The same issues were the top priorities in the
December 2005 and June 2006 public opinion polls. [See Table 2.]
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In response to an
open-ended question, Jordanians consider the Palestinian problem
to be the most important political problem requiring the
government’s immediate attention (12.5%), followed by the
occupation of Iraq and Palestine (5.9%), expatriates from
neighboring countries (5.6%), and terrorism and terrorist
attacks (5.1%). Terrorism came in first place in the December
2005 and June 2006 polls whereas it is in fourth place in this
poll. Significant numbers of Jordanians think that there are no
political problems in Jordan (29.5%). [See Table 3.]
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In response to a
scaled question, 61.5% of Jordanians think that peaceful
political participation and protest is an appropriate way to
change the government. 2.5% think violent action is an
appropriate way to do so, a significant five percentage points
decrease from the June 2006 poll. More than half of respondents
(52.4%) think it is appropriate to leave it up to the parliament
to change the government. [See Table 4.]
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17.7% of Jordanians
think that the freedom to publicly criticize the government's
policies and decisions is guaranteed to a large extent and 28.3%
think that it is somewhat guaranteed. A third of respondents
(33.1%) says that this freedom is not guaranteed at all. These
results represent a 5.4 percentage points decrease from the June
2006 poll of those who say this freedom is guaranteed and a 7.3
percentage points increase of those who think it is not
guaranteed. [See Table 5.]
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55.7% of respondents
think that the 2003 election law (“one-person one-vote”) is the
most appropriate for Jordan, a significant 11.2 percentage
points increase since the June 2006 poll. 20.6% support a
one-seat one-district system; 10% support a mixed
(party/electoral lists and district seats) system; while 8.2%
support a national proportional lists system. [See Table 6.]
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If a mixed election
system is applied in Jordan, more than half (51.8%) prefer that
voters have one vote where the voter chooses either the district
candidate or the national list, while 40.6% think that voters
should have two votes. This represents a four percentage points
increase since the June 2006 poll of those who think that voters
should have one vote only. [See Table 7.]
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On the assumption
that each person is given one vote in a mixed election system,
more than two-thirds (68.2%) would choose to vote for the
district candidate while 20.6% would vote for the national list.
This represents a 6.1 percentage points increase since the June
2006 poll of those who would choose the district candidate and a
4.2 percentage points decrease of those who would choose to vote
for the national list. [See Table 8.]
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If parliamentary
elections were held today, 36.9% say that they would vote for
Jordanian nationalist candidates, a 2.1 percentage points
increase since the June poll. 16.9% would vote for political
Islamist candidates, a 2.8 percentage points decline since June
2006 and 6.5 percentage points lower than the December 2005
poll. 5.5% say they would vote for Arab nationalist candidates.
About a third (30.9%) indicates that they would not vote based
on ideology. [See Table 9.]
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74.8% of respondents
support holding parliamentary elections this year while 9% are
in favor of extending the parliament’s mandate for another year.
72.5% of respondents indicate that they would participate in
parliamentary elections if they were held this year. [See Table
10 and 11.]
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Of those who would
participate in parliamentary elections (72.5%), 17.5% say that
they would vote for a candidate representing a political party
while 72.2% would not vote for a party candidate. [See Table
12.]
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Of those who would
vote for a candidate representing a political party (17.5%),
57.5% say that they would vote for the Islamic Action Front,
which is 10% of those who would participate in the elections and
7% of the total sample. [See Table 13.]
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According to
respondents, the most well-known political parties in Jordan are
(in rank order): the Islamic Action Front, the Jordanian Arab
Baathist Socialist Party, the National Constitutional Party, the
Jordanian Communist Party, the People’s Democratic Party
(“Hashed”), and the Islamic Centrist Party (“Al-Wasat”). [See
Table 14.]
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12.6% of respondents
have heard about efforts being made to establish a large
nationalist-centrist political party and 46.9% think it is a
good idea. 61.9% of those who think it is a good idea say that
they would consider voting for the party if it is formed (29% of
the total sample.) More than a quarter of respondents (25.8%)
who think it is a good idea to form the party say that they
would consider joining the party if it is formed (7.5% of the
total sample). [See Tables 16,17,18,19.]
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A third of
respondents (35.4%) say that they are familiar with the new law
on municipalities. More than half (52.2%) are against the idea
of members of parliament having the right to run in municipal
elections. [See Tables 20, 21.]
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A majority of
respondents (76.9%) say they would vote for independent
candidates in the municipal elections while 6.5% would vote for
political party candidates. [See Table 22.]
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For those who would
vote for an independent candidate in municipal elections, the
most important attribute of that type of candidate is: Being a
good service provider (52%), his or her tribal affiliation
(23.7%), being a personal acquaintance (10.9%), and his or her
political inclinations (8.2%). [See Table 23.]
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Of the 6.5% who
would vote for a political party candidate in municipal
elections, 53.5% would vote for a candidate from the Islamic
Action Front (which amounts to 3.5% of the total sample,) 9.6%
for the People's Democratic Party - "Hashed", 4.5% for “Al-Ahed"
Party, 2.9% for the Democratic Leftist Party, and 2.7% for the
Islamic Centrist Party - "Al-Wasat". [See Table 24.]
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41.2% are in favor
of the prime minister being chosen from the members of
parliament while 38.2% are not. 16.1% say it makes no difference
to them. [See Table 25.]
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41.5% say that
government ministers should be chosen from a mix of parliament
members and people outside the parliament. More than a third
(36.2%) says that the ministers should be chosen only from
outside the parliament and 11.9% say that they should be chosen
only from within the parliament. [See Table 26.]
