Central Valley Survey Reveals More Good than Bad News -- April 30, 2004 -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 11, Bulletin 14

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), partnered with the Great Valley Center, released a special addition of the PPIC Statewide Survey, called The Central Valley Survey. The survey looks at the social, political, and economic attitudes and public policy preferences of Central Valley residents. The Central Valley consists of North Valley, Sacramento Metro, North San Joaquin, and South San Joaquin. Issues concerning satisfaction with an individual's area, such as quality of life and problems with the Central Valley, governance and policy preferences, trends in economy, religion, and attitudes over time are some of the areas addressed in the survey of 2,005 participants.

Overall, 75 percent of Central Valley inhabitants consider their city or community a good place to live. Others agreed, with 53% stating that the Central Valley is headed in the right direction, and less than 32% responding it is headed in the wrong direction. Community satisfaction is greater in the North Valley (84%) and Sacramento Metro (81%) than in the North and South San Joaquin Valley (71% and 70% respectively).

When the issue of the economy was raised, some residents were more pessimistic of the future. Numbers were down from 55% (1999) to 38% of local residents feeling that the economy was good or excellent, but optimism was found in certain regions such as the Sacramento Metro area where there was an increase of 39% to 45% despite potential government lay-offs. The survey also revealed some negative feedback from residents about public services and facilities as well as infrastructure being a problem. Air pollution, seen as the most important issue ahead of the economy, jobs, population growth and development, received 45% of the participants' votes as most troublesome up from 28% (1999). Also noteworthy is that 64% of the Central Valley population is willing to have increased local sales tax to fund transportation projects. People also complained about the lack of affordable housing and displayed a decrease in confidence about local streets and roads with one in four stating public spending should give top priority to improve infrastructures.

Growing differences among Latinos and Whites also emerged in the survey, with Whites (83%) more likely to rate their communities good or excellent than Latinos (59%). The disparity is also evident over public services, such as police protection and parks and recreation. Latinos gave lower ratings to police (58%) and parks (56%) than Whites. Also, only 25% of Latinos were pleased with the availability of colleges and universities compare to 37% of white residents. Regardless of ethnic lines, more residents believe public spending should give schools top priority, with 51% of likely voters supporting an increase in property taxes to fund local schools. However, the most significant difference between Latinos and Whites was seen in computer and internet usage. The survey showed a growing gap of 34 points, with Latinos use of the Internet at 25% and Whites at 59%, and ownership of computers unchanged for Latinos compared to an increase in the computer ownership of all Central Valley residents.

Other key discoveries were 38% more residents thought precedence should be given to farms and agriculture for future water policies, as opposed to homes and residents (30%). With regard to personal finances, 37% replied they are better off today than a year ago, 14% were worse off, and 47% felt they had stayed about the same. When surveyed 42 percent of residents described themselves as politically conservative, and 69% were Republican, 22% Democrat. The Central Valley Survey has been a collaborative effort between the Great Valley Center and PPIC with other surveys conducted in 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003. To view the discussed report online or for more information, visit http://www.ppic.org .

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill that directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods.

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