Introduction

These are the results and analyses of the latest Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) public opinion poll, focusing on living conditions, government services, elections, reconciliation, the new West Bank government headed by PM Dr. Rami Hamadallah, approval of leaders, negotiations, the Arab Spring and support for political parties and prospective future candidates.

The questionnaire was fielded June18-20, 2013, less than two weeks after the inauguration of the new ministerial cabinet and right before PM Hamdallah submitted his resignation to Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority.

For this survey, 1,200 Palestinians were interviewed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All socioeconomic groups were represented in the poll (for more details on the sample, please refer to: www.awrad.org). The margin of error in this poll is plus or minus 3 percent. The survey was carried out by AWRAD researchers under the supervision of Dr. Nader Said-Foqahaa, President of AWRAD.

Highlights

• 57 percent of respondents say that Palestinian society is heading in the wrong direction.
• Only 4 percent of West Bank respondents and 6 percent of Gazans evaluate the performance of their government in job creation as "good."
• 52 percent agree with the appointment of Dr. Rami Hamdallah for the PM position.
• 37 percent of Palestinian respondents choose the Hamdallah led-government while 17 percent choose the Haniyeh-led government.
• 61 percent believe that the newly formed government will continue the policies of the Fayyad government or will make minor changes.
• 27 percent view the Hamdallah government as an independent, technocratic government.
• 68 percent do not know the names of any of the ministers in the Hamdallah government. Only 2 percent say that they know the names of all the ministers.
• 54 percent approve of the overall performance of President Abbas.
• 35 percent of respondents approve of the overall performance of PM Haniyeh.
• 94 percent of Gazans support the immediate conduct of elections.
• 67 percent support an immediate return to negotiations if Israel were to freeze settlement activity.
• 17 percent believe that the changes taking place elsewhere in the Arab World positively influence the Palestinian situation.
• 46 percent believe that there is a chance that protests could break out against the government in Gaza and 41 percent believe the same concerning the government in the West Bank.

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