Amman, Jordan – Although a majority of Jordanians says that their country is moving in the right direction, IRI’s latest national poll  (analysis) shows that rising cost of living still tops the public’s list of priorities and almost half of Jordanians describe a downward trend in their personal economic fortunes during the past year.  Jordanians remain disinclined to trust their elected representatives:  The current parliament receives low approval ratings and more than two-thirds of respondents believe that the parliament is not representative of all Jordanians.  Significant percentages of respondents want to see changes in key aspects of the current parliamentary electoral system.  Notably, Jordanians are almost evenly split over whether they prefer the current system, which allows one vote for the candidate that is most preferred by the voter, or an electoral system where every voter is allowed a number of votes equal to the number of seats in the voter’s district.

The current poll is the seventh in a series of national surveys on democratic transformation and political reform in Jordan produced by the IRI and Middle East Marketing and Research Consultants.  Jordanians shared their views on what they see as the most important issues and priorities facing the country today, their opinion of the government’s and parliament’s job performance, their perceptions and preferences concerning the current elections law, their voting behavior and political preferences and their attitudes towards the current economic situation and quality of life in Jordan.

The poll’s main findings include:

The poll, conducted August 8-11, 2009, interviewed 1,000 Jordanian citizens, both men and women, at 100 sites randomly selected throughout the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  The poll has a margin of error of ±2.5 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

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