| Oddly enough, I too have mixed feelings about Jordanian political reform. Maybe they should poll me too. |
A nationwide public opinion poll to measure the Jordanian public's views on political reform and democratic transformation issues shows the population almost evenly split on the direction of change in the country, with citizens most concerned about unemployment, cost of living and corruption. The poll by the independent Jordan Center for Social Research, headed by the respected sociologist Dr. Moussa Shteiwi, showed that slightly less than half of Jordanians (48 percent) think that things in Jordan are going in the right direction, while 44 percent think that things are going in the wrong direction.
The most important problems facing Jordan today, according to the respondents, are the rising cost of living (38 percent) and unemployment (27 percent). The most important political problem is corruption 26 percent). In terms of voters' political preferences, the results showed that 37 percent would vote for candidates from the Islamic tendency while 27 percent would vote for candidates from the Jordanian nationalist tendency. A majority (60 percent) would maintain the current "one-person, one-vote" parliamentary election law while only 17 percent would like it to be changed. |