FLA voters lie about their personal economic situations
November 19, 2008 at 12:23 pm by Wayne GarciaThat would the only explanation for today’s Qunnipiac Poll about the economy in our state:
Florida voters are surprisingly upbeat about their personal financial condition, as 56 percent say family finances are “excellent” or “good,” and 43 percent say they are “not so good” or “poor,” according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. But only 31 percent expect things to get better in the next year, while 21 percent say they will get worse and 44 percent say they will stay the same.
Lying about your personal financial condition makes sense. After all, who wants to admit, even to a pollster in anonymity, that their household budget is shot to hell, that they have more personal debt than some small Latin American nations, and that the Holiday Season is going to be slim pickins.
credit: thetruthabout/flickr.com
The poll even hints at this disconnect between our view of how we are doing and the way we tell others about it:
Voters say 59 - 20 percent that they are worse off then they were a year ago, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.
“The housing meltdown hit Florida worse than most of the rest of the country and unemployment has risen there, yet voters aren’t nearly as pessimistic about their situation or their prospects as in some other states,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
(So we’re either more optimistic than the nation at large or too stupid to know we’re in real trouble in the Sunshine State. I vote for the latter.)
“Only 53 percent say they are somewhat or very dissatisfied with the way things are going in Florida today, while 47 percent are very or somewhat satisfied. That’s pretty optimistic given the economy, stock market crash and predictions that the recession could be deep and long,” said Brown. “There are higher levels of pessimism in other parts of the country.”
“A November 13 Quinnipiac University national poll showed a record high 82 percent level of dissatisfaction.”
And anyone wondering just how much red remains in this purple state of ours need look no further than the poll’s top answer for our economic woes:
Floridians say 58 - 30 percent that more cuts in local property taxes are needed, in part because local officials have failed reduce assessments to reflect the decline in property values. They think 73 - 22 percent the voting public, not the Legislature, should make the tax cuts. When it comes to the state budget, they want spending cut rather than taxes raised….
That’s right, giving homeowners a few measly hundred bucks back on their annual property tax bill makes a helluva lot more sense than improving our economy, growing better-paying jobs and upping our education system so we are competitive in the global market.
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