Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And the state has seen a steady, four-year increase in the percentage of people who think too much money is being spent on state prisons and jails - to 23.5 percent in 1995. That's still less than the 27.5 who think more money should be spent on prisons and jails, but even that figure has dropped from a high of 36.9 percent last year.
Those are some of the findings from the annual Quality of Life in Virginia survey produced by Virginia Tech's Center for Survey Research.
"Last year, they were very satisfied about a lot of things: The economy, Governor Allen, spending," said Deborah Collins Strickland, one of the principal researchers. "I don't know if it's backlash or reality check. The economy is going to take a while to come together."
Building prisons is one of the cornerstones of Gov. George Allen's administration, and the survey shows Allen's approval rating has dropped slightly. Last year, 74.4 percent approved of his job, while this year, 68.3 "somewhat" or "strongly" agree that he is doing a good job. In other recent polls, Allen's approval rating also has dropped slightly.
"Last year, he had only been in office two or three months," Collins Strickland said. "Of course you're going to see a change."
The survey shows 87 percent of respondents believe the state is a "good" or "excellent" place to live, but some details of life seem to be bothering Virginians. For instance, 35 percent of the state's residents say this is only a "fair" or even a "poor" place to find a job, while 42 percent think the same thing of the market for reasonably priced housing.
Those figures have dropped slightly or stayed the same from last year, when 39 percent thought the state was a fair to poor job-hunting market. The housing opinions have not changed.
And people's child-care situations and family relationships are less satisfying this year. Those who are satisfied with their child care dropped from 67.6 percent last year to 60.2 percent, and those happy with family relationships went from 83.7 to 74.1.
The number of people who believe the state isn't spending enough on public schools remains above 50 percent, as it has during all four years of the poll. This year, it's 51.2 percent.
Since this is the fourth year for the survey, researchers now are starting to gather a body of data large enough to look at trends. In all, 807 people responded to the telephone poll conducted in April, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
This year's survey dropped many of the detailed questions that showed up in previous years, primarily because they took up people's time and reduced the number of respondents, Collins Strickland said. Last year, researchers interviewed 596 people.
The $8,000 survey was funded by the Virginia Agriculture Experiment Station - but budget cuts will eat into its funding next year, Collins Strickland said.
by CNB