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Most Important Problems Jobs and the economy are named by 26% of residents as the most important public policy problem in Orange County today. This issue is followed by a second tier of public policy concerns including crime (17%), traffic (14%), schools (13%), growth (11%), immigration (10%) and housing (9%). Certainly, these responses indicate a marked change in priorities since the 1980s. Twenty-seven percent of those earning under $80,000 a year mention jobs and the economy as the most important issue, while only 12 percent name traffic. Higher-income residents note traffic the most (27%), followed by jobs and the economy (19%). Jobs and the economy are the top issue in all county regions. Twenty-eight percent say jobs and the economy are the top issue in the South region, while 25 percent mention this elsewhere in the county. Traffic is mentioned more in the South County (18%) than elsewhere (12%). Crime is mentioned less often in the South (9%) than in the remainder of the county (19%). Residents in all age groups rate jobs and the economy as the biggest public policy problem facing the county. In 1985, when we first asked about the most important county problem as an open-ended question, only 2 percent named economic issues as the top problem. Thus, we dropped specific mention of economic issues from 1986 to 1991, when the question was asked in a multiple-choice answer format. During this time period, we asked respondents to choose among six issues or name "something else" as the top issue. There were always very few mentions of "jobs and the economy." In the 1992 survey, we added "jobs and the economy" as the seventh issue in our list of county problems. Since the 1985 survey, the issue of traffic and transportation has topped the list of Orange County's most serious public policy problems. Last year, however, that trend began to reverse. Mention of traffic in 1991 declined to 26 percent, down more than 20 points from the peak levels it reached in 1987 and 1988. This signaled a change from a single-issue focus to multiple concerns for county residents. The most recent survey indicates that Orange County residents faced with a long and deep recession have focused attention on a new local concern, that is, jobs and the economy. |
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