ORANGE COUNTY SURVEY

INTRODUCTION

The Orange County Annual Survey has been in progress for three years. Since 1982, in three consecutive 
surveys, the goal has been to understand the nature of community life in Orange County. A related purpose 
is to examine trends in demographics and opinions over time as the county grows, matures, and inevitably 
changes. The three surveys together offer a unique opportunity for decision makers and academics to 
analyze the social, economic, and political evolution of a major metropolitan area. Other regions of the 
United States today must rely on the 1980 Census which, for geographic areas which are changing and 
growing, represents outdated information. The findings from the 1984 survey which are presented in this 
report underscore the importance of having large, detailed, representative, and ongoing surveys of the 
Orange County population.

One topic receives considerable attention this year. It is the political attitudes of Orange County 
residents. There is confusion about the current nature of Orange County. This is especially relevant in a 
year in which the presidential vote, the legislative elections, and residents' responses to this year's 
state and county ballot initiatives were the focus of great attention. This year's survey places Orange 
County's political attitudes in perspective in several ways. It contrasts local opinions with national 
opinions on key issues. It also compares residents' attitudes towards local government with ratings of 
higher levels of government. Lastly, important internal political issues are examined in questions 
regarding local spending and taxes and transportation priorities. The 1984 survey seeks to understand the 
political values which underlie citizens' voting and public policy preferences. It serves not only as a 
retrospective on the year's political events but also as a benchmark for future political studies and a 
source for crucial political projections.

The 1984 survey also builds on the earlier efforts. Areas of emphasis continue to be demographics, 
housing, moving, transportation, growth preferences, and public policies. We track several important 
attitudes and facts analyze changes since the 1982 survey. These include income, household composition, 
moving trends, housing characteristics, transportation attitudes, political affiliations. As important, 
we elaborate upon earlier information in the questions asked on each topic. The 1983 survey provided 
awareness orange County residents' mixed evaluation of the area's future. This ear's survey explores the 
public policy issues which are of greatest concern, including the water supply, air pollution, hazardous 
wastes, earthquakes, and air transportation. The 1983 survey indicated continuing deterioration of 
residents' transportation experiences and support for transportation improvements. The current study 
considers further attitude shifts. Housing and moving plans indicated in past years that Orange County 
had a potentially mobile population and young adult and rental groups which were frustrated with the 
barriers to homeownership. In the most recent survey we examine both where and why Orange County 
residents want to move and the renters' interest in and ability to pay the costs of homeownership. The 
past surveys have found support for limiting growth and preferences towards restricting urban 
development. In the 1984 survey we consider support for no housing growth versus controlled growth or 
unrestricted growth and the acceptability various types of non-residential growth.
There are several special topics which are also pursued in the 1984 survey. This is consistent with the 
approach of previous years in matching faculty interests with important policy questions in Orange 
County. We continued to select these topics with the overall theme of special populations and critical 
social institutions in mind. This year the issues are all within the fields of law and criminal justice. 
Specifically, the increasingly controversial issues of white collar crime and prison conditions were 
addressed in the survey. In addition, attitudes towards the court system, legal assistance, and lawyers 
in particular are considered. We are not only interested in the overall opinions of the population but, 
as well, in the attitudes and experiences of significant subgroups.

The report is divided into the following sections. First the methods of the survey are described 
including the sample, the data collection procedures and the content of the survey instrument. Then the 
findings are presented in nine separate sections. These include the.. demographic characteristics, 
politics in perspective, spending and taxes, transportation, housing, moving, growth preferences, and the 
future and public policies. The final results section includes a discussion of the special topics 
involving law and criminal justice. A conclusions section summarizes the findings from this year's 
survey, integrates the results with past knowledge, discusses the policy implications, and looks towards 
topics to be pursued in the 1985 survey.