Poll: Hoosiers would pay more for better education

01/05/2009
By RICK CALLAHAN / Associated Press

A new poll shows Indiana residents are willing to pay higher taxes for government changes that could improve their lives, although it also suggests Hoosiers think state officials — not their local counterparts — are best equipped to make that happen.

A Ball State University poll released Monday found that by margins ranging from 58 percent to 70 percent Hoosiers would support higher state taxes to fund the state's public schools, colleges and universities, health care and environmental protection.

But the poll also found that 53 percent oppose raising local taxes to address problems in their communities and 67 percent rate government efficiency second among their top legislative priorities, just below jobs.

Those findings, coming after Indiana voters in November strongly favored shifting township property assessment duties to the county level, suggest Hoosiers don't have much faith that local government can do much to improve their lives, said Joseph Losco, chairman of Ball State's political science department.

"If you put all those things together it says Hoosiers are willing to pay more for certain kinds of services and benefits, but they have more confidence in state government to fix some of these problems than they do in local government," he said.

The results also showed that Indiana residents are divided over the performance of local government. Fifty-four percent said local officials respond very well to somewhat well, while 37 percent said local government is not responsive to their needs.

The poll, released two days before the General Assembly reconvenes, is the first of what's planned as a yearly "Hoosier Poll" intended as a guide for state lawmakers as they prepare to tackle another session of legislative issues, Losco said.

The telephone survey of 600 Indiana residents was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates from Nov. 12-16. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

The poll found that Hoosiers' chief legislative goal was job creation, with 83 percent of respondents listing jobs among their top legislative priorities. Government efficiency was cited next most often, by 67 percent of respondents, followed by health care, 62 percent, and improving public schools, 60 percent.

Ray Scheele, co-director of Ball State's Bowen Center for Public Affairs, which sponsored the survey, said the nation's deepening recession has made economic development and job creation — perennial favorites among Hoosiers — even more important to Indiana residents.

FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT OF THOSE POLLED SAID THE ISSUE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION WAS A TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY, and 46 percent listed protecting the environment as a priority.

Losco said he and his colleagues were surprised by that and also the poll's additional finding that about 58 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to better protect the environment.

"We were impressed that the environment came out as strongly as it did among the host of issues here," he said.

Hoosier Environmental Council Executive Director Jesse Kharbanda also saw the poll finding as a hopeful sign.

"It's an encouraging sign that the public appreciates the multiple layers of benefits that improved environmental proection means for the state, in terms of improved public health, economic development and improved quality of life," he said.

Among the poll's other findings was that Indiana residents have a relatively favorable impression of the job performance of the state's legislators.

Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said they approve of the performance of Indiana's lawmakers over the last few years. In contrast, a Gallup Poll taken in mid-November found that only 19 percent of Americans approve of Congress' performance.

On the Net:
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