The Pacific Poll 01-1

Title:				The Pacific Poll 01-1: 
				OC Voter Priorities for 2001 
				The Energy Crisis
				Opening the Mexican Border

Sponsor:			Pacific Opinions

Field Dates:			January 14-23, 2001

Sample: 	A random sample of registered voters in Orange County, California

Sample Size: 	540 

Sample Notes: 	Conducted in English and Spanish.  
Companion Study with The Pacific Poll 01-2.

Interview Method: 		Telephone


Please note that data made available from Pacific Opinions may not be disseminated without written
permission.  The results of any secondary analyses conducted on the data may, however, be published with
appropriate acknowledgements and source citation.


Bibliographic Citation


Publications based upon Pacific Opinions data collections should acknowledge the source by means of a 
bibliographic citation. Citations should appear in footnotes or in the reference section of publications. 
The recommended bibliographic citation for this data collection is:
	
"The Pacific Poll 01-1: OC Voter Priorities for 2001, The Energy Crisis and Opening the Mexican Border", 
January 9, 2001. Pacific Opinions. Irvine, CA. University of California, Irvine, Social Science Data 
Archives [distributor], 2001

Data Disclaimer


The original collector of the data, Pacific Opinions, bears no responsibility for uses of this collection 
or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses. 


Data Collection Description


SUMMARY: The purpose of this study was to assess voter attitudes towards the energy crisis in California, 
opening the Mexican border and general policy priorities for 2001. Respondents were asked about their top 
priorities for local officials in 2001, whether or not they have heard of Governor Gray Davis, the Public 
Utilities Commission, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, the Orange County Board of 
Supervisors, and Mexican President Vicente Fox and were asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable 
attitude toward each. Respondents were also asked who they felt was the most responsible for the energy 
crisis and how worried they were about electricity shortages or blackouts in their area. Respondents were 
asked how seriously they viewed the possibility of utility bankruptcy, and whether or not they felt the 
state should allow the utilities to go bankrupt. Further, respondents were asked a series of possible 
solutions to the energy crisis and how much of a difference they thought it would have on the current 
energy crisis. They were also asked how much they spent last month on their electricity bill.  
Respondents were asked a series of questions about proposals to open the border between the U.S. and 
Mexico: whether or not they favor doing so, who they felt would benefit the most from an open border, and 
perceived impact on the local economy.  Respondents were asked whether they trusted the Orange County 
Board of Supervisors to handle several issues, including: counting election ballots, zoning and land use, 
budgeting and finances and deciding the future of the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.  Demographic 
variables include the length of time the respondent has been living in Orange County and the United 
States, political party identification, strength of party identification, actual party registration of 
the respondent (from county election sources), education, the number of housemates over the age of 18, 
date of birth, marital status, race (if they identified Hispanic, a sub-category is included), household 
income, and gender.  There are also geographic variables including city of the respondent and a recoded 
variable for region of the county (North, Central, or South).