Better than anything I read in the Herald the past two days, this was on the Herald blog -- Naked Politics -- posted yesterday by Marc Caputo:
Poll: Dade voters love Prop Tax, dislike county comms and economy:
"A South Florida business group, which didn't want to be identified for political reasons, recently conducted a poll in Miami-Dade that incidentally tested the Jan. 29 property-tax amendment language. The poll found that 40 percent of respondents are heading out to vote for president and nearly as many -- 39 percent -- are primarily motivated to vote because of the amendment.
Some findings, in the words of the pollster:
1. The voters are VERY pessimistic about the direction of the County generally and the direction of its economy
2. Property taxes, education and jobs are the top issue concerns
3. The property tax amendment is winning by a WIDE margin – 64% to 23%
4. Gov. Charlie Crist has a 6 to 1 positive image with these voters
5. House Speaker Marco Rubio has a mixed image (25 positive/21 negative), but most have no opinion or never heard of him
6. The Dade County Commission is viewed negatively with 31% holding a positive opinion and 43% a negative opinion"
In April 2005 a local group, the Urban Environment League, did a Mason-Dixon poll asking if county government is trying to protect quality of life. At that time 44% felt the Commissioners were.
Then in March 2006, Channel 4/Defede did a poll Asking: "Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners?"
Very favorable | 7%
Somewhat favorable | 29%
Somewhat unfavorable | 20%
Very unfavorable | 15%
DON'T KNOW OR NO ANSWER| 29%
In this "4" poll the County Commission was viewed positvely by 36%. So with the 31% approval rating in the recent poll, their numbers are down by 5%. Looks like the county's approval numbers are now so low, they are in the BUSH league!
Things haven't changed much (from the March 2006 poll):
Which of the following do you think is the most important problem currently facing Miami-Dade County?
Traffic congestion | 26%
Overdevelopment and environmental destruction | 14%
Lack of affordable housing | 16%
High property taxes | 12%
Low quality of the public schools | 9%
Crime and drugs in our neighborhoods | 8%
Availability of affordable quality health care | 12%
DON'T KNOW OR NO ANSWER| | 3%
4 comments:
It always seems to take a crisis to motivate U.S. voters to actually exercise their democratic duty. And everybody's looking--in true American fashion--for the quick fix. Knee-capping schools, libraries and other public works to get a few hundred dollars savings on a thousands-dollars tax bill ain't it. Neither is this so called "stimulus package." What our survival depends on is based on long-term things: understanding of the that the U.S. lifestyle that has been in our psyche for decades is and always has been unsustainable; developing the ability and desire to critically analyze the issues; a shift from market oriented media to public interest media; and not fearing policy that favors the good of the community over the individual (sorry Calle Ocho and all other hard liners.) Compromise is the future.
good advice amo:
understanding of the that the U.S. lifestyle that has been in our psyche for decades is and always has been unsustainable; developing the ability and desire to critically analyze the issues; a shift from market oriented media to public interest media; and not fearing policy that favors the good of the community over the individual
Oy
The Bush "stimulus package", send everyone a little money and tell them to go shopping!
Similar to the post 9/11 message...please-go shopping!
This is the new America.
Shop or we all die.
Nobody likes the Commission. This isn't news. Nobody likes Congress either - no matter which party is in control.
People tend to like their commissioner or congressperson but not the legislative body as a whole.
Some day someone should do numbers on the individuals like they did with Rubio. If he has statewide aspirations that poll will give pause. If less than half the respondents know who you are in your own community and half of them don't like you. Wow.
The property tax question has a high hurdle of 60% put in by big business during the last big election. I find it rather ironic that big business now has to dump tons of money into ads for a tax cut to get past their own referendum roadblock.
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