Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502060012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We're religious, too.
Most of us pray at least once a day. Most of us attend church regularly (and we don't mean just at Easter and Christmas, either). Most of us believe the Bible is to be taken literally, as well. And almost half of us consider ourselves "born again."
Yet most of us don't think religious leaders should influence voters.
This year's Roanoke Valley Poll - an annual survey conducted by Roanoke College's Center for Community Research, in cooperation with the Roanoke Times & World-News - sketches a sort of personality portrait of the state's biggest metropolitan area west of the Blue Ridge.
Some of the answers aren't all that surprising.
Most of us don't trust the federal government because we think the government is incompetent.
Some of the answers reveal a certain, ahem, regional flavor.
Almost half of us have sampled moonshine.
Some answers give some insight into where we stand on the big issues facing Western Virginia.
We're gung-ho for a new interstate from Roanoke to Greensboro, N.C., but we're skeptical of Appalachian Power Co.'s proposed high-voltage power line.
And others, well, just give some insight into how we live our lives.
We're more likely to watch football than baseball or basketball on television. And we usually root for the Washington Redskins, although a lot of us are going to switch to the Carolina Panthers when the Charlotte team takes the field this fall.
Some questions find things that unite us.
Almost all of us take our out-of-town guests to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mill Mountain Star.
Other reveal the lifestyle choices that divide us.
Most adults under age 30 are buying special phone features; most of those over age 30 aren't. Most who have been to college now own a computer; most who haven't been, don't.
What do the numbers add up to? Frankly, John Keyser, who teaches public affairs at Roanoke College and is the center's interim director, isn't sure. "It strikes me how conservative some of the numbers are," he says.
Yet some of the findings also reveal some contradictions - what the social scientists would call "tension" - in our community. Such as how we're so conservative, yet also believe the government should provide health care.
Over the next month or so, we'll publish the results of the poll, which was conducted in the fall of 1994, interviewed 400 residents of Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County, and has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
For the first installment, see today's Extra section.
by CNB