Introduction
The Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan has conducted a public opinion poll to measure the performance of the government of Dr. Bakhet a year and a half after its formation. The poll was carried out from 30/5 to 3/6/2007. The size of the national sample was 983 respondents, while the sample size of the public ““Opinion Leaders”” sample was 601 respondents that were divided along the seven categories, as shown in table (1).
Table (1) Breakdown of ““Opinion Leaders”” by category
|
Group |
Completed |
Refusals |
Total |
Business people (CEO or GD of companies) |
71 |
29 |
100 |
|
Political party leaders (highest executive committee of each party) |
99 |
1 |
100 |
|
Professionals (lawyers, engineers, medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, geologists, nurses, agricultural engineers) |
82 |
18 |
100 |
|
Media (writers, artists, journalists) |
86 |
14 |
100 |
|
Leaders of professional associations, trade unions and NGOs |
92 |
8 |
100 |
|
High ranking state officials (former ministers, directors general, MPs, senators, former security officers, tribal and camp leaders) |
88 |
12 |
100 |
|
University professors |
83 |
17 |
100 |
|
Total |
601 |
99 |
700 |
The aim of this poll was to identify the trends of Jordanian public opinion on the performance of Dr. Bakhet’s government in the first year and a half, especially related to the its ability to solve the problems and issues assigned to it in the letter of designation. Also, the poll measured the public’s assessment of key problems Jordan currently faces that “the government must deal with immediately.”
This report consists of four sections. The first section addresses the general expectations and evaluations of opinion on the performance of the government as compared to the previous governments since 1996. This section also includes the results of all polls that have been conducted for every government (including formation, 100 days, 200 days, one year, one year and a half, two years after formation). To be able to properly observe the direction of Jordanian public opinion toward governments, we have calculated the percentage of respondents that believe that the government “will be highly successful” in carrying out its responsibilities, as well as the percentages of those who believe that the government “has not been successful in carrying out its responsibilities since its formation” in all previous polls.
The second section presents a general comparison of respondents' evaluations between the performance of each individual prime minister, each of the ministers (with the exception of the prime minister), and each government generally (both prime ministers and ministerial team). This section calculates the mean into a percentage for the three questions relating to the prime minister, the government, and the ministerial team, in order to observe the trend of public opinion in Jordan over time.
The third section compares current opinion of the Bakhet government's performance in addressing the specific issues assigned to it to the public’s evaluation in the one year poll, the 200 days poll, the 100 days poll and the poll conducted upon its formation.
The fourth section examines the main problems currently facing Jordan that the government must immediately address. This also includes citizens' perceptions of the financial/economic status of their family during the past three years.
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