UCI

County surpasses rest of nation in level of indifference to politics

Irvine, Calif. – Despite Orange County’s reputation as a place to watch during state and national elections, county residents are more disengaged politically than those in the rest of the nation, according to UC Irvine’s 1997 Orange County Annual Survey.
The survey shows that:

• Forty-one percent of residents have little or no interest in politics, compared to 25 percent nationally.
• Twenty-nine percent follow political news only now and then or hardly at all, compared to 20 percent nationally.
• Thirty-one percent vote only part of the time, seldom or never, compared to 16 percent nationally.

Latinos are less politically active than non-Hispanic whites: 42 percent of Latinos say they never vote, while 7 percent of non-Hispanic whites are non-voters.
"The low involvement in politics that we see among residents overall probably reflects the general distrust in government and elected officials that shows up in a number of survey questions," said Mark Baldassare, professor and chair of UCI’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
"There’s a deep cynicism about the government system among Orange County residents, and one reason Republicans have been so successful here is that they’ve been able to tap into that cynicism by focusing on the issues of government waste and inefficiency."
The random-sample telephone survey of 1,002 adult residents was conducted by Baldassare and research associate Cheryl Katz. The survey period was Sept. 4-14, and the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.
Orange County residents tend to describe themselves as middle-of-the-road to somewhat conservative in their political ideology (60 percent). This is true for Democrats (53 percent) as well as Republicans (64 percent).
"There seems to be a trend toward more moderation politically," Katz said. "Relatively few consider themselves very liberal (8 percent) or very conservative (12 percent)."
Orange County residents tend to be conservative on fiscal and economic issues, liberal on social and environmental issues.
"Orange County residents are more likely than the rest of the nation to think taxes should be reduced, even if that means spending less on social programs, and they’re more likely to say that government can’t do much more to help the needy," Katz said.
"Yet, county residents also are more likely than the rest of the nation to say that homosexuality should be accepted, and they’re less likely to see immigrants as a burden."
Two in three residents favor stricter environmental regulations, despite the cost.
The political views of Latinos are very similar to those of non-Hispanic whites. Latinos are just as likely to say they are middle-of-the-road to somewhat conservative (55 percent). Their views are similar to non-Hispanic whites on such topics as government regulations, the environment, the attentiveness of government officials, federal income taxes and homosexuality.
However, Katz noted, Latinos are more liberal than non-Hispanic whites in their views of immigrants and the need to help the poor.
"There hasn’t been a tradition of political participation among Latinos in Orange County," Katz said. "There’s a lot of room for this to grow so they can become fully engaged in Orange County affairs and their voices can be heard."