Most O.C. Residents Say Life Treating Them Fine

Shaking off the pessimism brought on by economic woes earlier in the decade, Orange County residents are more ebullient about their future and quality of life now than they have been since the late 1980s, according to a major public opinion survey released Monday.

The Orange County Annual Survey found that 82% of those interviewed feel positive about the quality of life in Orange County--up from 68% last year--and 36% expect the county to be an even better place to live in the future, said UC Irvine professor Mark Baldassare, who with research associate Cheryl Katz conducted the survey for UCI’s School of Social Ecology.

While the almost giddy mood of the 1980s had its roots in seemingly endless prosperity, this year’s optimism seems to spring in part from the slow but steady dissipation of the gloom that enshrouded Southern California during the recession of the early 1990s.

“In terms of people’s actual income, they haven’t seen much improvement,” said Baldassare, “but the general feeling now is that the dark clouds are gone with the county getting out of the bankruptcy. And the severe recession that has faced California is becoming a distant memory.

“It’s a dramatic change, but it’s a change that reflects where we’ve come from in the last couple of years,” Baldassare said. “For the optimism to hold, there will have to be tangibles in terms of income growth and signs that the county will be a better place to live.”

In another sign that the nation’s worst municipal bankruptcy is receding in the memories of county residents, crime once again took its place as the county’s number one public concern.

The random-sample survey was conducted by telephone between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8. Of the 1,000 residents surveyed, 27% mentioned crime as a main concern. Immigration took a weak second-place, with 15%--mostly older, white residents--calling it their biggest worry. Schools, jobs, growth and traffic followed closely.

However, only 7% of those surveyed said the county’s financial crisis topped their list.

“I think we’re back to the issues that confronted Orange County before the bankruptcy--the top issue being crime,” Baldassare said.

When asked about social problems, the answers that respondents gave also “point to the fact that we are a more urban place than we used to be, and people are struggling with that change,” Baldassare said.

Thirty-eight percent of respondents said drug abuse is the county’s most serious social problem--up 10% from last year and the highest showing since 1990. That was followed by concerns about health care, the homeless, race relations, child care and AIDS, in that order.

“They’re struggling with the issue of racial and ethnic diversity and the more urban flavor of the county, and that’s particularly felt in central Orange County,” Baldassare said.

Last year, residents surveyed deemed the financial crisis to be the county’s most pressing problem.

But while the county has emerged from bankruptcy, in part by making major spending cutbacks, 84% of those surveyed believe that county government still wastes “some or a lot” of taxpayer money, while 73% think that about city governments.

Long-standing disparities in attitudes along geographic lines were again detected in this year’s survey, the 15th since its inception in 1981, with South County residents reporting more affluence, more confidence in government and less concern about crime than Central County residents, who reported lower median income and posted the greatest concern about crime.

Personal finance questions also revealed attitude differences along class lines, with lower-income people more concerned about spending and less optimistic about the economy than their wealthy counterparts.

Median annual household income stands at $48,000, only slightly higher than last year. In South county, six in ten households earned more than $50,000. And in Central County--with the highest immigrant population--half earned less than $36,000.

However, in what Baldassare called an important finding, there were no differences across regions, races or income levels when it came to a positive view of the quality of life in Orange County or optimism about the future.

“The county is providing a positive quality of life across ethnic groups, although it’s not the same for everyone,” Baldassare said.

“If there were any differences in age and ethnicity, it’s a factor of income, and income across those groups is unequal. If Latinos are making more than $50,000 a year, they’re not more worried” about making ends meet.

The survey also took a look at attitudes toward charitable giving and asked respondents new questions to help explain why residents give less than might be expected for such an affluent county.

Katz, who handled that part of the survey, said the good news was that giving and volunteering increased over last year, rising from a median contribution of $177 to $253.

However, the survey also found that charities are not asking people to give that often (fewer than half of those people making over $80,000 reported being solicited for donations.) When they are asked, residents are more likely to give, Katz said.

“That’s something that could give [charities] some guidance,” Katz said. “I think it points out the need to make greater efforts to reach out to Orange County residents, especially in view of the fact that if you ask them, they appear to give more.”

The survey also found that residents’ skepticism about Orange County charities may be keeping donations down.

“As far as whether they trust charities, there is room for improvement,” she said. “If charities made people more aware of what happens with what they’re giving, that would have more impact.”

Overall, Baldassare said the survey shows a positive yet cautious emergence from a time of worry.

“They feel we’ve come through some hard times, but they’re not ready to be overly zealous about their situation,” he said.

“It’s an optimistic but pragmatic mood compared to the 1980s, when people just thought there was going to be endless prosperity. Now they’re happy that things are normal and their lives are fairly stable compared to a couple of years ago.”

Complete results of the 1996 survey are available on the World Wide Web, at https://www.communications.uci.edu/~inform/