O'Neil Associates

AZ Elected Officials Widely Approved

In an effort to assess the opinions held by local business, community and art leaders on various issues, the Valley Influentials Poll surveys members of Valley Leadership, East Valley Partnership, Westmarc and Greater Phoenix Leadership.  The poll measured Valley leaders’ approval rating of the following elected officials: Attorney General Terry Goddard, Governor Janet Napolitano, Senator John McCain, Senator John Kyl and President George W. Bush. 

When rating the job performance of various elected officials, Attorney General Terry Goddard, Governor Janet Napolitano and Senator John McCain are this year’s favorite elected officials, each with wide bipartisan support.  President George W. Bush is at the bottom of the pack, while the reception for County Attorney Rick Romley and Senator John Kyl is more positive, but more muted. 

 

Attorney General Terry Goddard Doing Well

After excluding the 15% of respondents unable to rate his performance, Terry Goddard boasts the highest overall approval rating.  An impressive 91% of Valley leaders feel he is doing his job well.  His appeal is broad, with 95% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans approving, and 92% of women and 90% of men approving.  His current approval rating is comparable to his approval at this same time last year (87%).  

Favorable Ratings for Governor Napolitano

Not only is Governor Napolitano’s awareness rating high, with 97% of Valley leaders able to rate her job performance, her approval rating is also based on near universal recognition.  A full 86% of Valley leaders approve of the way Janet Napolitano is doing her job.  Putting partisan differences aside, three-quarters (75%) of Republican respondents approve of Governor Napolitano’s current job performance.  Men and women both approve of Governor Napolitano, though approval among women is modestly greater (81% men vs. 91% women).  Governor Napolitano’s overall approval rating (86%) is modestly greater than it was last year (81%).

Approval Boost for John McCain

Of the six elected officials measured, Senator John McCain’s approval rating saw the greatest increase from its 2003 level.  In 2003, Senator McCain received the approval of a hearty 74% of Valley leaders.  Since then, his approval rating has soared even higher, and now a full 85% of Valley leaders approve of his job performance.  Similar to Governor Napolitano’s appeal, Senator John McCain also receives strong support from both sides.  A full 81% of Democrats and 91% of Republican approve of his current job performance.  It should be noted that the increase in Senator McCain’s approval from 2003 to 2004 is entirely attributable to increased approval among Democrats; Republican’s approval of Senator McCain has remained constant.  

Ratings for Rick Romley and Kyl Only Slightly Lower

County Attorney Rick Romley is supported by 69% of the 88% of respondents able to rate his job performance.  Unlike Attorney General Terry Goddard, Governor Janet Napolitano and Senator John McCain, Romley does not have strong support from both parties.  County Attorney Rick Romley’s approval comes mainly from his fellow Republicans, 80% of whom approve of his job performance compared to only 59% of Democrats.  Rick Romley’s approval rating is comparable to its 2003 level (72%). 

Senator John Kyl has the approval of 69% of Valley leaders.  This figure remains virtually unchanged from 2003 (66%).  Similar to Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, Senator Kyl does not draw strong bipartisan support.  While a full 89% of Republicans approve of the way he handles does his job, the proportion of Democrats who approve is less than half this figure (42%).   

Approval for President Bush Low

 According to the poll, President George W. Bush is the lowest rated elected official.  Fewer that two-fifths of respondents (38%) approve of the way he is doing his job.  There is a dramatic partisan tilt to his support.  The proportion of Republicans approving of President Bush’s job performance (68%) far exceeds the proportion of approving Democrats (8%).  In addition, male Valley leaders are modestly more pleased with his performance than are female leaders (43% male vs. 34% female). 

 At this same time last year, President Bush was also the lowest rated elected official with only 56% approving.  This year, however, not only is he the lowest rated elected official, his current approval rating is a full 18-percentage points below his approval in July of 2003. 

Levels of awareness varied for each of the elected officials, and ranged from 97% able to rate Governor Janet Napolitano’s job performance and President George W. Bush’s performance to a notably reduced 85% able to rate the performance of Attorney General Terry Goddard.  The differing levels of awareness likely reflect the differing degrees of public visibility of each elected post.  The different awareness levels of Senator McCain and Senator Kyl are good examples of this.  Awareness of Senator McCain (96%) is extremely high, undoubtedly attributable to his national media coverage.  Senator Kyl, on the other hand simply does not receive the same level of coverage, and consequently awareness of him (86%), while still high, is notably lower. 

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. 308 participants completed the survey between July 15 and August 2, 2004, yielding a margin of error of ±5.7%.  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, October 6th                           (VIP 039-2004-05)
FURTHER INFORMATION: Dawn Pry, 480-967-4441 ext. 213 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.
or more information about us, please visit
www.oneilresearch.com

For other surveys including recent press releases on:

Terrorism and Iraq

The Debate Over Same-Sex Marriage

"Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act"

"No Child Left Behind"

Current Economy

2004 Presidential Election
War in Iraq
Clean Elections
2006 Race for Governor

Arizona's Role in the Presidential Election

please visit
http://www.oneilresearch.com/surveys.htm