The results show that approximately the same percentage of Palestinians in the West Bank (10%) as in and Gaza (10.9%) feel that economic conditions have improved. In contrast, 54.9% of Gazans described them as worse compared to 34.1% in the West Bank. The worst economic conditions were reported by residents of the South of Gaza followed by those living in other Gaza areas, Jericho and Hebron (see Table 16).

Table 16
Economic Conditions by Residence

	Better %	Worse %	Same as Before %	Don't Know %
Nablus	14.6	34.1	50.4	00.9
Tulkarm	05.5	42.1	51.7	01.2
Jenin	09.1	32.3	56.7	01.9
Jericho	---	72.2	27.8	---
Ramallah	10.5	28.0	59.4	02.1
Hebron	11.2	49.7	38.1	01.0
Bethlehem	09.4	38.9	50.8	00.9
Jerusalem	03.5	17.4	79.3	---
Gaza North	17.1	45.2	31.8	05.9
Gaza City	10.5	59.4	29.7	00.4
Gaza Middle	09.6	54.1	34.7	01.6
Gaza South	07.9	70.2	19.9	02.0

The least educated in all geographical areas reported the worst economic conditions (see Table 17).

Table 17
Economic Conditions by Education

	Better %	Worse %	Same as Before %	Don't Know %
Illiterate	13.7	42.5	40.0	03.8
Up to 9 yrs.	09.7	50.7	38.9	00.7
Tawjihi	07.1	41.8	50.8	00.3
College	12.1	35.4	49.5	03.0
Bachelor	13.0	37.7	46.2	03.1

Results in the current poll indicate that 38.6% evaluate the PNA as "excellent" or "good". Positive evaluation was higher in the West Bank than in Gaza, but within the Gaza Strip, respondents from the North and South tended to evaluate PNA performance as average or less (see Table 18).

Table 18
Evaluation of the PNA by Residence

	Excellent %	Good %	Average %	Weak %	Bad %	Don't Know
Nablus	07.7	36.7	30.3	13.1	04.7	14.5
T'lkrm	15.5	24.2	34.4	13.5	09.6	02.8
Jenin	15.9	33.9	34.0	05.8	07.9	02.5
Jericho	---	28.1	40.1	15.6	16.2	---
Ram'h	14.4	24.2	35.1	18.8	02.1	5.4
Hebron	07.5	31.1	28.0	10.7	06.0	16.7
Bth'hem	03.9	24.8	39.5	11.6	08.7	11.5
J'salem	05.6	29.5	33.1	06.9	05.4	19.5
Gaza N.	04.0	20.8	54.3	11.1	00.9	08.9
Gaza C.	14.8	22.5	33.5	18.3	06.6	04.3
Gaza M.	13.4	27.0	36.8	11.6	07.2	04.0
Gaza S.	05.0	33.2	42.9	09.0	04.9	05.0

T'lkrm - Tulkarm, Ram'h - Ramallah, Bth'hem - Bethlehem, J'salem - Jerusalem, N-north, C-city, M-middle, S-south

Palestinians in the age group of 23-30 year-olds were critical of the PNA (see Table 19).

Table 19
Evaluation of the PNA by Age

	Excellent %	Good %	Average %	Weak %	Bad %	Don't Know
18-22 yrs.	08.3	31.4	37.5	13.4	03.5	05.9
23-26 yrs.	10.0	21.9	39.9	15.3	08.2	04.7
27-30 yrs.	05.7	26.0	39.2	13.1	09.8	06.2
31-35 yrs.	06.0	33.7	38.9	08.2	03.9	09.3
36-42 yrs.	14.1	26.6	32.5	10.3	05.6	10.9
43-50 yrs.	19.7	26.8	27.8	12.0	06.2	07.5
50+ yrs.	15.5	27.9	22.4	13.7	08.3	12.2

With regard to education, we find that the more educated respondents are the most critical of the PNA (see Table 20).

Table 20
Evaluation of the PNA by Education

	Excellent %	Good %	Average %	Fair %	Bad %	Don't Know
Illiterate	15.0	23.8	35.0	07.5	05.0	13.7
Up to 9 yrs.	15.4	25.8	35.9	11.8	04.2	06.9
Tawjihi	08.0	28.6	34.8	13.5	06.8	08.3
College	06.6	32.3	40.9	10.1	05.6	04.5
Bachelor	06.2	33.5	30.0	15.0	09.2	06.1

The results of this poll show that the popularity of Yassir Arafat, is 53.7%. The percentage of those choosing "others" was 17.3%. Compared to his popularity in July, support for Ahmad Yassin was higher (see Table 21).

Table 21
Comparison of PNA President Election Results

	Arafat %	Yassin %	Abdel Shafi %	Habash %	Others %
Nov 1994	44.2	19.7	08.9	06.8	20.4
Dec 1994	48.5	18.4	08.6	05.8	18.7
Feb 1995	53.4	14.6	10.0	03.6	18.4
Mar 1995	56.5	13.5	07.6	03.2	19.2
May 1995	55.4	11.9	08.4	04.0	20.2
July 1995	49.3	13.4	07.6	03.9	25.7
Aug 1995	53.7	17.2	07.2	04.3	17.3

Holding general elections is by far the most popular choice among Palestinians for choosing the members of PISGA as indicated by 86.3% of the respondents, compared to only 9% in favor of appointments by the PLO or 2.8% for appointment by political groups on a per quota basis. Support for elections increased with education.