June 7, 2002
Report & Analysis · Other Poll Releases
A new Peach State Poll finds that the spike in confidence in public institutions that occurred after the September 11th terrorist attacks has largely subsided, with the public now more apt to express skepticism. The Peach State Poll is a quarterly survey of public opinion conducted by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
The decline in confidence basically represents a return to normalcy, believes Rich Clark, poll director. "The high levels in confidence which were found in the September 2001 poll appear to be the result of a 'rally around the flag' phenomenon, when the public puts aside differences to support its government in times of crisis," he says.
While confidence in institutions fell by an average of 10 percentage points from September 2001 to March 2002, confidence in big business fell 13 percentage points, the largest of all differences. The steeper decline may likely be a product of the Enron debacle and the reporting of problems in the big accounting firms that followed the Enron story, rather than 9/11.
Other survey results:
* While terrorism and security issues are still cited by Georgians most often as the most important problem facing the United State today, other issues are beginning to compete for the public's attention. In September 2001, 60 percent of all respondents cited terrorism or national security as the most important problem facing the nation; by March 2002, only 30 percent cited terrorism or national security as the most important problem facing the nation.
* The two most prominent issues cited by respondents as the most important problem facing Georgia today are education (22 percent) and the economy (17 percent). Whites were far more likely, however, to choose education over the economy than were nonwhites (24 percent as compared with 17 percent). In fact, the economy was the problem cited most by nonwhites (20 percent).
* Only 3 percent of the public rate Georgia's current economic conditions as excellent. The vast majority rate economic conditions in the state today as either good (37 percent) or fair (46 percent). Another 13 percent rate the economy in Georgia as poor.
* The percentage of Georgians stating that they are satisfied with the state of the state has continued to fall over the past two quarters. In September 2001, 69 percent said they were satisfied; that number dropped slightly to 67 percent in December 2001 and even further to 61 percent in March 2002. Meanwhile, the level of dissatisfaction expressed continued to rise.
These data are taken from a Peach State Poll conducted between March 15 and March 19, 2002. The poll included 801 telephone interviews of randomly selected adults in Georgia. For a sample of this size, the margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level is +/- 3.5 percent.
