RAMALLAH, June 8, 2011 (WAFA) – A majority of Palestinians believes incumbent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad would be the most appropriate figure to head the next unity government, a new Palestinian poll published Wednesday said.
A ratio of 44.4% said Fayyad was the most appropriate among names circulated in the media to run the new government, while 12.3% said Jamal al-Khudaree, a
Mohammed Abu Shahla, a Fatah lawmaker from
A ratio of 23.7% said they do not trust anyone and a ratio of 9.2% refrained from answering the question.
The public opinion poll, conducted by Jerusalem Media and
A total of 26.5% said they prefer a government with a Fatah-majority, and 12.5% said they prefer a Hamas-majority government.
According to the poll that was conducted between May 31 and June 4 with a random sample of 1198 people from the West Bank and Gaza, a majority of 79.1% said they consider the reconciliation agreement a positive step that serves the national interest.
A total of 12.4% said the reconciliation agreement would not make any difference.
A majority of 81.1% expressed optimism regarding the implementation of the agreement on the ground. A majority of 76.9% said the formation of a national reconciliation government of independent figures as stipulated in the reconciliation agreement is a good idea at the current phase compared with 13.0% who said the opposite.
The poll results showed that 63.6% of respondents expressed optimism toward getting recognition of a Palestinian state in September, while 30.2% said they feel pessimistic.
In addition, 64.6% said it serves national interest compared with 4.6% who said it will harm national interest. A total of 25.5% said the step will not make any difference regarding the national interest.
The poll showed that the speech of US President Barack Obama made 44.4% of Palestinians more pessimistic regarding finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict compared with a ratio of 11.2% who said that the speech made them feel more optimistic.
A ratio of 43.6% of the respondents said Obama’s speech did not make any difference although a ratio of 52.1% said they read or watched one of the recent speeches of Obama regarding the
The poll results showed that the general public believes that there is
The ratio of those who believe the
Generally speaking, a Palestinian majority of 91.8% still insists that the
With regards to the level of confidence in the Palestinian factions, the ratio of those who trust Fatah more rose from 36.2% in April 2010 to 39.2% in this poll.
Level of confidence in Hamas also rose from 14.4% in April 2010 to 16.6% in this poll.
Along the same lines, the level of confidence in President Mahmoud Abbas increased from 17.8% in April 2010 to 22.2% in this poll. Level of confidence in Ismail Hanniyeh also rose from 11.2% to 13.6%. Incarcerated Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi maintained his third rank in this poll with a confidence ratio of 6.8% followed by Salam Fayyad who received a confidence ratio of 6.3%. Ratio of those who don’t trust anyone went down from 32.5% to 28.5%.
On the other hand, the recent political developments have increased the ratio of respondents who are satisfied with the way in which President Abbas is running the PA from 18.6% in April 2010 to 24.3% in this poll.
M.A.
