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Flight
Safety
In our nation’s frightening new reality of
increased terror risks and color-coded
threat advisories, many people have
begun to wonder if the additional
steps we are taking have really made
us any safer.
Our nation’s airports are
among the most visibly impacted areas
of our country, with new procedures
and equipment implemented continuously
in an effort to make us safer.
But, do the new security
measures really make us feel any
safer?
Is flying today safer than it
was before September 11th?
According
to a just-released survey, Valley
business and community leaders have
mixed views about the impact
additional security efforts have on
the safety of our nation’s airways.
The Valley Influentials Poll,
which surveys members of Valley
Leadership, East Valley Partnership,
Greater Phoenix Leadership, and
Westmarc assesses the opinions held by
business and community leaders in the
Valley. These individuals both sway the opinions of the general
public and tend to fly frequently.
Respondents were asked, “Do you feel that flying
today is safer, about the same, or not
as safe as it was prior to September
11th?”
While only a slim minority (6%)
feel flying is now less safe, not
everyone believes it has become safer.
Feelings are mixed, with some
believing we are now safer and others
feeling that our threat risk remains
unchanged.
In fact, approximately half of
respondents surveyed (51%) feel that
flying today is about the same as it
was before 9-11.
At the same time, the
proportion feeling that flying today
is safer (43%) does not vary
drastically from the proportion seeing
no change (51%).
Personal
Safety and Worldviews
Republicans
are significantly more likely than
Democrats to feel that flying is now
safer than it was prior to 9-11.
In fact, well over half of
Republicans surveyed (54%) compared to
just one-third of Democrats (32%)
think flying is now safer.
This undoubtedly relates
directly to differences of opinion
between Republicans and Democrats
about topics far removed from our
airports, such as the war in Iraq and
approval of Bush Administration’s
overall response to 9-11.
Similarly,
those describing themselves as
politically conservative feel that
flying is safer post-9-11 than do
those describing themselves as
liberals.
A full 58% of conservatives
believe flying now is safer than it
was prior to September 11th.
By comparison, only 31% of
self-described liberals believe that
flying is now safer.
The poll’s director Dr. Michael O’Neil commented,
saying, “Clearly feelings are mixed
about any improvement to flight
safety.
The divergence of opinion,
however, seems to stem more from
political ideology and views about
external events than it does from any
direct assessment of the safety at our
airports.
Of course, there is no reason
to believe that Republicans inherently
are safer than Democrats.
This is probably a spillover
effect from Democrats feeling their
guy is not at the helm and so they are
just less positive in general.
Conversely, Republicans feel
they have their guy running things and
thus tend to give more favorable
ratings on those things that are
somewhat ambiguous.”
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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 Aug. 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. |
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FOR
RELEASE: Tuesday, November 16th
10:00pm
(VIP 040-2004-05)
FURTHER INFORMATION: Michael O'Neil,
Ph.D., 480-967-4441 ext. 221 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. |
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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. |
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or
more information about us, please
visit
www.oneilresearch.com
For
other surveys including recent press
releases on:
Elected
Officials Job Approval
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
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