AMMAN — The majority of Jordanians are neither with
Russia nor with Ukraine in the ongoing war, a recently conducted poll
indicated. NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions conducted a nationally
representative survey of 1,241 Jordanian adults to gauge their thoughts on the war.
اضافة اعلان
Jordanians remained
consistent in their foreign support compared to previous surveys conducted by
NAMA. In a 2021 foreign relations survey, 80 percent of those polled were
neutral about the US-Russian rivalry and 79 percent were neutral about the US-Chinese
rivalry.
In the current
poll, 75.1 percent of Jordanians said they neither support Russia nor Ukraine.
However, of the
21.6 percent who said they were not neutral, 13.6 percent were in support of
Ukraine compared to 8 percent for Russia. Some of the reasons cited in support
of Ukraine included that Ukraine was weaker, Russia was the aggressor, and that
Ukraine has the right to self-defense. Those who supported Russia said it
needed to defend itself from NATO and the US and that Russia had the right to
take Ukrainian land.
When it comes to
assigning blame, nearly 43 percent of those polled blamed Russia for the war
compared to 12.3 percent who blamed Ukraine. Thirty-three percent were unsure
and about 12 percent blamed other countries or entities such as the US,
NATO,
and Israel.
Neutrality was,
for the most part, mirrored through Jordanians’ perceptions when asked which
side they think the Jordanian government was supporting. As such, about 45
percent indicated that the government was not supporting either party, whereas
16.5 percent believed that Jordan supports Ukraine and 5.5 percent said that it
supports Russia. Additionally, 57 percent of
Jordanians believe that Arab
states should remain neutral in the conflict. While about 22 percent of
Jordanians think that Arab states should support Ukraine, only 5.2 percent
think that they should be supporting Russia.
13.6%
Support Ukraine, 8% support Russia
Impact on Jordan
Given the magnitude of the war and the extent of its impact on other
parts of the world, nearly 82 percent of Jordanians believe that the war will
have a negative impact on Jordan, compared to 12 percent who think there will
be no impact at all. Of those who believe it will have a negative impact, about
91.5 percent mentioned economic repercussions, such as price hikes, difficulty in
importing goods into Jordan, and scarcity of natural resources and food
commodities.
Jordanians were
asked to express their views regarding which side they think Germany, Turkey,
Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
China, and Iran support in this war, and the results
showed that a median of 46.4 percent of Jordanians were unsure which side these
countries support. For the most part and when it comes to China and Iran, about
45.5 percent and 42.1 percent of Jordanians believe that these two countries
support Russia. For Germany, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, more Jordanians
believe that these countries are in support of Ukraine than Russia.
Looking at
Jordanians’ level of support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
Ukraine, the survey results demonstrate that about 54.3 percent of Jordanians
support Ukraine’s territorial integrity (41.2 percent fully support and 13.1
percent somewhat support). On the other hand, 40.7 percent of Jordanians are
indifferent to this particular aspect as they indicated that it does not matter
to them. At the same time, nearly 90 percent of Jordanians believe that it is
unacceptable for any country to invade another. However, when the discussion
shifts to this particular invasion (i.e., the
Russian invasion of Ukraine), 47.8
percent of Jordanians believe that it is not justified at all, showing a major
42 percentage point decline from the general context to the specific.
When it comes to
the refugee crisis induced by the Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, the survey
results show that 54 percent of Jordanians are very sympathetic towards
Ukrainian refugees followed by 22 percent who are somewhat sympathetic, whereas
14.1 percent are not at all sympathetic towards them.
Intervention and conflict resolution
The next section of the survey focused on non-military and
military interventions in the conflict. The survey found that about 45 percent of
Jordanians believe that sanctioning Russia is justified, compared to 29 percent
who believe it is not justified. On the other hand, about 36.8 percent of
Jordanians believe that NATO (US and allies) should intervene militarily to
stop the war, while 43 percent were against this prospect. This shows a higher
support for non-military intervention among Jordanians, albeit the support for
sanctions was not unanimous. It is worth noting that of those who oppose
military intervention, the vast majority were in support of diplomatic
negotiations, followed by 18.6 percent who stated that Ukraine should accept
Russian demands.
Finally, the
survey asked Jordanians to indicate the media sources they use to get their
information on the war. The results show that 45.2 percent of Jordanians
receive their information on this war from television stations, followed by
40.7 percent who use social media, and 9.4 percent who rely on family and
friends through word of mouth.
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
