Valley Influentials Poll on Education Funding vs. Lower Taxes

Strong Call for More Education Funding:

Business Leaders Choose Education over Lower Taxes

An overwhelming majority of business and community leaders in Maricopa County prefer that the Arizona state legislature increase funding for education rather than lower taxes, according to a new O'Neil Associates Valley Influentials Poll.

If the legislature, because of the state's tight budget situation, were forced to choose between more resources for education and lower taxes, fully 72% of Valley leaders would give priority to education funding. Just 8% would call for lower taxes in that situation. (15% think the two are equally important, and 5% would prefer to see the legislature pursue neither of these two objectives).

"What is really astounding about this survey result," said poll director Michael O'Neil, Ph.D., "is the almost complete disconnect between legislative priorities and those of the business leadership of the community."

"Bear in mind," O'Neil continued, "that this was not a poll of education leaders, who would be expected to put education funding at the top of their list of priorities. Rather, this was a poll of business leaders, who as a group tend to be primarily conservative and Republican. While Arizona's legislative leadership has consistently put the lowering of taxes at the top of its political agenda, the juxtaposition of this and the attitudes expressed in this poll of business leaders could hardly be more stark."

Support for Education Funding Over Lower Taxes Pervasive in All Groups

While the responses of subgroups of Valley leaders based on party registration and political ideology did differ slightly in the directions one might suspect, what is more conspicuous is the fact that education funding is chosen over taxes by all groups of business and community leaders.

Even self-identified "conservatives" choose education funding over lower taxes by nearly 3 to 1 (55% to 20%). Among all other groups, the preference is nearly unanimous: liberals prefer education funding over lower taxes by 86% to 0%, moderates by 77% to 5%.

A similar pattern exists with respect to party identification: all groups prioritize education funding over lower taxes by an overwhelming margin: Republicans by 63% to 13%, Democrats virtually unanimously by 85% to 1%, and those with other registrations by 74% to 5%.

Dr. O'Neil concluded, "What the results of this poll suggest is that being a 'conservative' does not mean favoring lower taxes at all costs. The group of business leaders who participated in this poll is clearly conservative in a broad sense of the term, yet they equally clearly prioritize education funding over lower taxes-certainly to a degree that may not be understood by those in charge of appropriating Arizona's resources."

About the Poll. The O’Neil Associates Valley Influentials Poll is a web-based survey that was sent to all members of Greater Phoenix Leadership, Valley Leadership, East Valley Partnership, and Westmarc. As such, this survey does not purport to be a random or representative sampling of the general population of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It would be difficult, however, to conceive of a more comprehensive representation from which to draw inferences about the opinions and sensibilities of business and community leaders than the combined membership of these organizations, although, inevitably, any definition of influentials is somewhat subjective. The persons surveyed are likely to exert disproportionate influence on and be an early indicator of community opinion by virtue of their position, community involvement, and political participation. The O’Neil Associates Valley Influentials Poll was not sponsored or paid for by any outside organization. Four hundred eight participants completed the survey between June 13 and June 24, 2002, yielding a margin of error of ±4.5%. O’Neil Associates, Inc. is a Tempe-based public opinion research firm specializing in client-focused attitude and awareness studies for a wide variety of industries and organizations.

FOR RELEASE FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2002, 12 NOON (VIP009-2002-01)

FURTHER INFORMATION: Michael O'Neil, Ph.D., 480-967-4441

These results may be reported freely provided that they are identified as the “O’Neil Associates Valley Influentials Poll” including identification on any graphic material.

O’Neil Associates has tracked public opinion across the Valley, Arizona, and the Nation since 1981. To be healthy, public debate must be informed—this is why we commit our resources to measuring opinions on the political and social issues people care about and talk about. O’Neil Associates, however, is much more than that. While the Valley Influentials Poll and Valley Monitor may be our most publicly visible activities, we do most of our work for private businesses and organizations as well as state and other public agencies. As a full-service research firm, we assist our clients with a broad range of research efforts to measure customer satisfaction, improve customer service, fine-tune public images, focus marketing campaigns, engineer products, increase market shares, strengthen employee relations, and plan, refine, and assess business strategies.