Survey: Public Cool To Hot-Button Issues Growth, Schools Top Concerns In Poll, Abortion Not On Radar
Their profile in the headlines and the Legislature is high, but a new poll found only one-third of 1 percent of those questioned consider abortion or prison spending among Idaho’s most important issues.
Only homelessness and child abuse ranked lower among public concerns.
“We have a lot of issues we deal with, from drugs to abortion, that hardly rate on our radar scale here in this survey,” James Weatherby, chairman of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Boise State University, said Friday.
The telephone poll of 653 people, conducted in late December by the Social Science Research Center at Boise State University, found the impacts of rapid growth the most important issue facing Idaho for the fifth year in a row. It was named by 13.2 percent of those questioned for the annual survey.
Another 8.2 percent identified the quality of education as the top issue, making it the second-ranking concern for the fourth consecutive year. The same number of people were surveyed for the previous poll, and both had margins of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
And while only a small number of respondents considered it a crucial issue, the new survey found Idaho residents evenly divided on whether abortion should be legal.
“You can slice it with a knife. It goes right down the middle,” said John Crank, the associate professor of criminal justice at Boise State who directed the poll.
Thirty-six percent of the respondents said abortion should be illegal in most cases and another 14.4 percent said it always should be illegal. But 31.4 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases and 16.9 percent said it always should be legal.
Two bills aimed at further restricting abortions have been introduced in the Legislature this year and a third measure is planned. However, the survey’s results counter arguments by the proposals’ sponsors that Idaho is a heavily anti-abortion state.
Opposition to abortion in most or all instances was most pronounced in the central mountains and eastern Idaho, and those questioned in the Panhandle, north-central Idaho and the Magic Valley were least likely to want abortion made illegal.
Meanwhile, the survey found most people supported current levels of spending on jails and prisons in Idaho, despite the recent outcry that an escalating Department of Correction budget is responsible for higher education getting a smaller share of state appropriations.
More than 53 percent of respondents said the state prison spending is about right. Almost 24 percent favored less spending, and 20 percent said more money should be devoted to locking up criminals. That was down from 40 percent who wanted more prison spending in the 1995 survey.
At the same time, the overwhelming majority of people who were asked, more than 68 percent, said Idaho should spend more money on public schools. Almost 26 percent wanted school spending maintained at current levels, and only 4.4 percent supported lower public school appropriations.
Almost as many people supported maintained or increased levels of state spending on higher education. Forty-six percent said it should be increased and about 43 percent said it should remain the same. Only 7.2 percent said too much money is being spent on Idaho colleges and universities.
The survey found Idaho residents generally happy with their quality of life, their state government and their elected officials.
“Overall, the sentiment is to stay the course,” Crank said.
xxxx EVENLY DIVIDED A recent survey found Idaho residents evenly divided on whether abortion should be legal. Thirty-six percent of the respondents said abortion should be illegal in most cases and another 14.4 percent said it always should be illegal. But 31.4 percent said abortion should be legal in most cases and 16.9 percent said it always should be legal.