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Basking
in World Series Glory
Public Now Views Bank
One Ballpark Expenditures Favorably
A
clear majority of Phoenix voters currently regard the expenditure of public
money on Bank One Ballpark to have been a good idea. These findings were in response to a recent O’Neil Associates
Valley Monitor question, which asked regular Phoenix voters: “In view of
the Diamondbacks’ success, do you consider the public money spent on Bank One
Ballpark to have been a good idea or not a good idea?” A clear majority of 55 % now indicate they
believe this was a good idea. A little
more than one in three (34%) think it was a bad idea, and the remaining 10% are
unsure (numbers do not add to one hundred percent due to rounding).
Support
for Bank One Ballpark
According
to the director of the poll, Dr. Michael O’Neil, “These figures represent a
rather extraordinary turnaround in public sentiment. For the last five years, nearly every public opinion poll on the
subject has clearly demonstrated massive public resentment over public
expenditures for Bank One Ballpark. In
light of such consistent and vehement findings, these results are
extraordinary. They demonstrate a
radical turnabout in public sentiment.
No doubt the euphoria is associated with a World Series victory and
Arizona’s first championship in any major sport. Of course, we simply don’t know how long-lived such sentiment
will be, but the degree of turnaround represented by such findings is nothing
short of breathtaking.”
Surprising Support
O’Neil continued, “The sources of support are also intriguing. The highest level of support was found among
Republicans, who normally tend to be more fiscally conservative. Nearly three-fifths (58%) of this group now
feel that the public expenditures for Bank One Ballpark were a good idea. This
contrasts with 53% among Democrats and 49% among other voters.”
Perhaps even more surprising,
the belief that this public expenditure was a good idea is actually more
prevalent among women (57%) than men (53%).
About the Poll. The O’Neil Associates Valley Monitor is an independent, scientific,
periodic random community survey of the metropolitan Phoenix area and the State
of Arizona; as always, this Valley Monitor poll was not sponsored or
paid for by any outside organization. Five hundred three interviews
were conducted with randomly selected Maricopa county voters between November
14 and November 21, 2001. The “sampling error” associated with this survey is
approximately ±4.4%. In other words, the chances are approximately 95 in 100
that we would have obtained the same results—within a margin of ±4.4%—had we
interviewed every Phoenix voter. Other sources of possible survey error, such
as question wording, should also be considered, but are inherently not
quantifiable.
| 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, December 7, 2001 (VMP2001-183-1614)
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 Monitor” including
identification on any graphic material. Media interviews available.
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