Success
Breeds Satisfaction:
Valley
Leaders Firmly Behind Bank One Ballpark
According to a new O'Neil
Associates Valley Influentials Poll, Valley leaders are nearly unanimous in
their support of Bank One Ballpark. Today, just 12% think the stadium should
not have been built. Eight of ten (79%) business and community leaders in
Maricopa County think it was the right decision to build the stadium. Twelve
percent had no opinion.
"It is obvious that not very
many people think the world champions should not have a decent home," said
poll director Dr. Michael O'Neil, Ph.D. "With the Diamondbacks' success,
it is easy to forget that our poll numbers actually represent an astounding
turnaround. Like the current proposed stadium for the Cardinals, Bank One
Ballpark was met with considerable public resentment right up until the D-Backs
brought home the trophy."
According to Dr. O'Neil, no
systematic polls were conducted on the sentiments of business leaders prior to
last year's championship, so there is no way to gauge precisely how much of an
increase the current numbers represent.
"On the one hand," Dr.
O'Neil continued, "one might suspect business leaders to have been more
positive throughout than the population at large, because of their
understanding of the potential for a new stadium and a successful sports
franchise to revitalize the downtown area and attract new businesses and
investments. On the other hand, we are not seeing anywhere near the same kind
of unanimity in current polls of business leaders on the future Cardinals
stadium. It seems, in other words, that action speaks louder than words. Our
professional sports teams have to earn the support of the community. They
cannot just take it for granted."
Support in All Groups
Regardless of party registration
and political persuasion, overwhelming majorities of Valley leaders are now
behind Bank One Ballpark. It seems, however, that the conservative side of the
political spectrum is slightly more favorable of the decision to build the
ballpark. Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans and 88% of conservatives
agree with the decision to build, compared to 79% each of Democrats and
liberals, respectively.
Said Dr. O'Neil, "Republicans
tend to be more fiscally conservative, so they may have been more skeptical
about allocating public funds for the stadium in the first place. But now that
it is a proven success, the fact that conservatives also tend to be more
pro-business may be what drives their slightly more unanimous support for the
ballpark."
Members of the four organizations
participating in the survey are all highly supportive of the ballpark,
differing only minimally in their responses. This stands in contrast to
attitudes towards the proposed Cardinals stadium, for which the O'Neil
Associates Valley Influentials Poll has found wide margins in levels of
support, depending on the proposed location of the stadium and in which parts
of the Metro Phoenix area the participating organizations are based.
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: WEDNESDAY AUGUST 28, 2002 (VIP012-2002-01)
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.