Bendixen Channel 10 Poll Regarding Miami Dade County Government. By Geniusofdespair

On this first one, all I want to know is, what is the Black Community thinking? They appear to be out of touch with the County Commission with a 43% approval rating and a paltry 28% percent negative rating. The White and Hispanic Communities disapproved by 47% and 50% respectively. On the last two: See Mayor Alvarez, you are looking bad with a 66% negative and the guy you should have gotten rid of, he has escaped the wrath of citizens with a 38% negative rating. The poll was conducted September 8th.


Executive Summary of poll and MY FAVORITE graphic from the poll:

Miami-Dade County Budget Poll


The results and findings in this memo are based on a telephone poll of 400 registered voters of Miami-Dade County (5% margin of error). All the interviews were conducted on the evening of Tuesday, September 8, 2009 in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. The sample of the survey is representative (by race, ethnicity, gender and age) of the approximately one million registered voters in Miami-Dade. The poll was conducted by Bendixen and Associates and sponsored by WPLG Channel 10 and WLTV Channel 23.

1. A clear majority of county voters (59%) support cutting the salaries of all county employees by 10 to 20 percent to balance the Miami-Dade budget. Meanwhile, only 19% favored increasing property taxes, while even smaller groups were in favor of laying off thousands of county employees (6%) or making substantial cuts in the funding of arts and social services programs (7%).

2. Mayor Carlos Alvarez has lost the trust of the large majority of county voters (74%). These respondents said that they had "little trust" or "no trust" in the Mayor when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Only 23% said that they had "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in Alvarez.

The mayor could be in political trouble. The voters of Miami-Dade are divided on whether to recall him (with 46% for the recall and 47% against it). It is clear that recent revelations that Alvarez gave several of his closest advisors large pay increases, even though he knew about the county budget deficit crisis, have had a major negative impact on his political credibility.

3. Last week's vote by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners to freeze property taxes splits the electorate with 43% saying they support the decision and 48% saying they oppose it. Black and Anglo voters oppose the decision by a 2 to 1 margin because they fear that it will lead to substantial cuts in funding for arts and social services programs and to the firing of thousands of county employees. Meanwhile, Hispanic voters support the decision by a 5 to 4 margin because they think it will lower their property taxes for next year. The poll also reveals that two-thirds of county voters (69%) have "no trust" or "little trust" in the County Commission when it comes to responding fairly and with integrity to the needs of the people of Miami-Dade. Thirty percent (30%) said it has "a lot of trust" or "some trust" in the County Commission.

4. The personal image ratings for the most important county leaders are strongly negative. Twenty-four percent (24%) have a positive opinion of County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, while 66% have a negative opinion of him. County Commission Chairman Dennis Moss has a 17% positive rating and a 42% negative rating. The ratings of County Manager George Burgess are 20% positive and 38% negative.

5. The debate at County Hall has the attention of most county voters with 74% of respondents indicating they were following the debate about the budget deficit "very closely" or "somewhat closely."