August 2, 2004
Report & Analysis · Other Poll Releases
ATHENS, GA – The latest Peach State Poll finds that 85 percent of Georgians say that they have discussed the upcoming election with a family member, friend, or coworker. Only one state resident in 10, however, has gone a step further to contribute money to a political campaign, the survey reports. The Peach State Poll is a quarterly survey of public opinion conducted by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
“While they may be talking about the election, Georgians are ambivalent about the degree to which they can make a difference in government,” says Rich Clark, poll director. “For example, 66 percent of Georgians believe that the representatives they send to Washington quickly lose touch with their constituents. Nonetheless, 63 percent do not agree with the notion that people like them have no say about what government does.”
A slim majority of Georgians (52 percent) believe that they can have either a significant impact (15 percent) or some impact (37 percent) on local government decisions, but only 35 percent believe that they can have either a significant impact (8 percent) or some impact (27 percent) on decisions made at the national level. The Peach State Poll also reports that 54 percent of the public believes that voting is the only means by which they can have a voice in how government decisions are made.
Other Peach State Poll results:
* Income and education influence significantly the extent to which one believes that she or he can have an impact on government. Georgians with a college degree or an annual household income above $30,000 are significantly more likely to believe they can affect government decisions than are those without a college degree or from households with incomes below $30,000.
* Poll respondents are more likely to attribute barriers to affecting government to a failure of their representatives to listen than to themselves.
* One-half of Georgians (50 percent) believe that public officials do not care much about the opinions of average citizens.
* Despite some cynicism about elected officials, a vast majority of Georgians think that the American system of democracy works well. Only 23 percent say that it does not work well and needs either major changes (16 percent) or to be completely changed (7 percent).
These data were taken from a Peach State Poll survey conducted between June 8 and June 14, 2004. 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.
