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66% of Moroccans support Algeria's Hirak, 70% consider the Palestinian cause theirs as well, survey finds

The findings of the Arab Index showed that 47% of Moroccans consider the economic situation in their country to be bad. 70% of Moroccan respondents considered the Palestinian issue to be theirs as well, and only 4% of Moroccans support recognizing Israel.

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The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, based in the Qatari capital, Doha, published Tuesday, the findings of the seventh edition of the Arab Index 2019/2020, which focuses on 13 countries in the region, including Morocco.

The poll, which was conducted between November 2019 and July 2020, is based on the answers of 28,000 male and female respondents who were interviewed directly within representative samples of the countries to which they belong, with a margin of error ranging between 2 and 3%.

Regarding the Kingdom, the poll showed that 9% of Moroccans think that the economic situation in the country is very good while 39% think it is good. Meanwhile, 32% consider it bad, 15% say it is very bad, and 6% refused to answer.

Regarding the political situation in Morocco, 34% believe it is good (7% said it is very good), while 57% said it is bad (25% said it is very bad), and 9% refused to answer.

The study confirmed that «the respondents' ability to criticize the governments of their countries was the highest in the Maghreb region, but it was the lowest in the Gulf region».

Religion and politics

64% of Moroccan respondents supported the statement that «no party has the right to expiate those belonging to other religions» 21% opposed the idea (7% strongly opposed it), and 15% of the respondents refused to answer.

The majority of Moroccan respondents also expressed their rejection of the influence of religious sheikhs in government decisions or how the voters vote, and the majority expressed its rejection of the state's use of religion to obtain people's support for its policies.

Indeed, 69% of Moroccan respondents believe that «the government has no right to use religion to gain people's support for its policies», while 18% believe the opposite.

Moroccans and Arab peoples' protests

66% of Moroccans expressed their support for the Algerian Hirak movement, while 12% said they opposed it, and 22% refused to answer. The percentage of Moroccans' support for Sudan's protests decreased to 49%, while 10% opposed it, and 41% did not provide an answer.

Ovrall, 58% of respondents believe that the revolutions witnessed in some Arab countries are a positive phenomenon, while 28% think they are negative.

Regarding the countries that could be posing a threat to Morocco, 3% of the respondents menioned Israel, and 3% also considered the United States to be the greatest threat to the Kingdom, while 1% spoke of Iran.

20% of respondents said the greatest risk is posed by neighboring Arab countries, while 37% believe there is no threat.

70% of the Moroccan respondents said that «the Palestinian issue is the issue of all Arabs and not the issue of Palestine alone», while 19% said that the Palestinian issue is «the issue of the Palestinians alone and they alone must work to solve it». 8% did not agree with either of these two positions and 3% declined to answer.

Regarding the position of Moroccans on recognizing Israel, only 4% of the respondents agreed to formally recognize it while 88% refused, and 6% declined to answer.

In the Arab world as a whole, 88% of the respondents refused to recognize Israel, compared to 6% who said they would accept it, and half of those who agreed mentioning as a condition the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

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