ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
Virginia Tech's Center for Survey Research polled 1,168 adult Virginians between April 21-May 22. The margin of error is 2.9 percent. Numbers may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
Highlights biggest differences between certain groups.
Who's doing a good job? Virginians rank firefighters and emergency medical technicians at the top of the list - those are the only public services that a majority of Virginia think are "excellent." Virginians also gave slightly better marks to their trash pick-up than they did their public schools.
But politicians, both state and local, rank at the bottom of the list, when Virginians are asked to rate various public services. Fewer people gave them "excellent" marks than any other category. But Virginians were in the worst mood about public transportation - one in five gave a "poor" rating.
How would you rate the quality of each of these organizations and services?
Excellent Good Fair Poor Don't Know Fire dept 57% 35% 6% 0% 2% Emer. med. ser. 54% 30% 6% 3% 3% Public libraries 40% 41% 11% 2% 6% Local law enforcement 32% 44% 16% 7% 1% Parks & recreation 32% 47% 15% 4% 2% Trash disposal 27% 43% 18% 8% 4% Mus. & cultural centers 27% 33% 21% 9% 10% Health care facilities 26% 50% 15% 5% 4% Pub. schools, K-12 23% 44% 16% 5% 4% Pub. trans. 13% 28% 18% 21% 20% Your rep. in Gen. Ass. 8% 45% 32% 6% 8% Local government 7% 40% 38% 10% 5%
Who's happy about their public services?
For the most part, Virginians who live in the urban crescent are more satisfied with their public services than those in the rest of the state. Here were the biggest contrasts.
Percentage who rated services "excellent"
Urban crescent Rest of state
Fire department: 62% 50%
Emergency medical services: 60% 46%
Health care facilities: 30% 21%
Public libraries: 48% 32%
Museums: 38% 14%
Parks and outdoor recreation: 40% 22%
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