Poll No. 204 March 24, 2020
THE CORONAVIRUS: A VAST SCARED MAJORITY AROUND THE WORLD

The latest poll on the Palestinian public opinion focusing on the spread of
the coronavirus prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali in cooperation with Gallup
International Association, revealed the following key results:
(84.6%) of the Palestinians are worried about the spread of the
corona-virus in the Palestinian Territories.
(68.3%) support at various extents the cooperation between Palestinians
and Israelis on preventing the spread of the epidemic.
(80.0%) express different approval of the efforts of the Palestinian
government in combating the virus spread.

Beit Sahour –Public Relations’ Section:
The latest poll prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali and conducted by the
Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (www.pcpo.org), during the period from
March 12-15, 2020 covered a random sample of (583) Palestinian respondents
representing the various demographic specimens of Palestinians (18 years and
above) living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. It
revealed that (84.6%) of the Palestinian public are worried about the spread
of the corona-virus.
Dr. Nabil Kukali, President and founder of the Palestinian Center for Public
Opinion, said the most significant results of the poll are as follows:

Worry about the spread of the coronavirus
Responding to the question:”At what extent are you worried about the spread
of the coronavirus at present in the Palestinian Territories ?”, (41.7%)
said “very much worried”, (42.9%) “worried”, (13.9%) “not so much worried”,
and (1.4%) “not worried at all”.

And to the question:”How strongly do you agree or disagree with the
following statement: I believe the threat from Coronavirus is exaggerated?”,
(18%) said “strongly agree”, (25%) “agree”, (33%) “disagree”, (22%)
“strongly disagree” and (2%) “don’t know”.

And to the question:” How strongly do you agree or disagree with the
following statement: I’m willing to sacrifice some of my human rights if it
helps prevent the spread of the virus”,( 26%) said “strongly agree”, (45%)
“agree”, (16%) “disagree”, (7%) “strongly disagree” and (6%) “don’t know”.

And to the question:”When thinking about the Corona-virus here in Palestine,
which of the following scenarios do you think is most likely to happen over
the next month ?”, (43%) said “the worse is yet to come”, (34%) “the
situation will remain largely the same as it is now” and (23%) said “we are
over the worst of it, things will begin to improve”

And to the question:”Which of the following precautionary measures, if any,
have you adopted to protect yourself from this virus ?”, the responses came
as follows:
Using medical masks: (24%)
Wearing hand gloves: (26%)
Using hand sanitizers: (66%)
Washing hands more frequently: ( 72%)
Staying at home / less social interaction ( 42%)
Self-quarantining: ( 20%)
Have not taken any precautionary procedure: ( 0)

And to the question:”Do you believe that a foreign power/ other force is
deliberately causing the spread of Coronavirus, or do you think that it is a
natural mutation ?”, (51%) answered “No, nobody is behind it, it’s a natural
mutation”, whilst a considerable rate ( 47) said also “Yes, it’s
deliberately spread” and (1%) “don’t know”.

Performance of the Palestinian health authorities
With regard to the question:”How would you generally evaluate the
performance of the Palestinian health authorities on preventing the spread
of the coronavirus in the Palestinian Territories?”
(24.2%) said:”very good”, (43.1%) said:”good”, (22%) “neither good nor bad”,
(6.7%%) “bad”, (3.3%) “very bad”, and (0.7%) answered:”I don’t know”.

Performance of the security services
Regarding the question:”How would you evaluate the performance of the
security services in controlling matters and not causing panic and fear
among the Palestinian public at present ?” (22.8%) said:”very good”, (39.5%)
“good”, (23.2%) “neither good nor bad”, (8.7%) “bad”, (3.6%) “very bad” and
(2.2%) said “I don’t know”.

Cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel
Responding to the question:”In the light of the prevailing situation, do you
support or oppose the cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians as to
prevent the spread of the coronavirus ?”,
(21.1%%) said:”I strongly support”, (47.2%) said “I somehow support”,
(19.6%) “somehow oppose”, (9.6%) “I strongly oppose” and (2.5%) answered “I
don’t know”.

Impact on the Economic Situation
With respect to the question:”Up to which extent has the economic situation
of your household been impacted by the spread of the coronavirus?”, (30.6%)
said:”to a great extent”, (40.1%) said “to a fair extent”, (20.5%) “to a
minor extent” and (8.8%) said “has not been impacted”.

E-Teaching
Regarding the question:”What is your impression on the electronic
teaching/learning that is applied by schools and universities under the
prevailing conditions ?”, (14.6%) said:”a very cool alternative”, (43.1%) “a
good alternative”, (35%) said:”It doesn’t somehow meet the purpose required”,
and (7.3%):”it doesn’t meet the purpose at all”.

The Social Media
Responding to the question:”Do you think that the social media such as
Facebook, Twitter… play a positive or a negative role in combating the
spread of coronavirus ?”, (37%) said “they play a positive role”, (53.1%)
said “a negative role” and (9.9%) have no opinion.

Methodology of the Survey Study in the Palestinian Territories
Dr. Nabil Kukali, said that all interviews of this survey were conducted
inside the respondents' homes, i.e. face-to-face.The choices were randomly
taken in accordance with a long experienced methodology applied by PCPO from
a total of (112) sites, (75) are from the West Bank and (37) from Gaza
Strip.
Dr. Kukali has further indicated that the margin of error was (±4.05%) at a
significance level of (95.0%). He added that the rate of the female
respondents in this survey was (49.6%) against (50.4%) male respondents. The
sample allotment with respect to the residential areas was as follows:
(64.0%) in the West Bank, incl. Eastern Jerusalem and (36.0%) in Gaza Strip.
The average age of the respondents was (33.4) years.

For following up the most recent polls of the Palestinian Center for Public
Opinion, please revert to our website: www.pcpo.org

Contact Person: Dr. Nabil Kukali Tel: +970 2 277 4846, Fax: +970 2 277 4892
Mobile: +970 599 726 878
P.O. Box 15, Beit Sahour - Palestine
Email: dr.kukali@pcpo.org