O.C. Looks Liberal in Annual Survey

Three years after Orange County voted overwhelmingly for an anti-illegal immigration initiative, a new survey reports that county residents are far less likely than people across the nation to view immigrants as a burden on society.

More than half of those surveyed by UC Irvine also said society should accept homosexuality as a way of life, another view at odds with Orange County’s conservative reputation and nationwide polling.

Results from UCI’s Orange County Annual Survey, made public today, were replete with good news for incumbent politicians heading into an election year. Residents, it found, are exuberant about the economy, the housing market, local schools and their overall quality of life.

But the optimism ends when people are asked about county government. Many residents remain deeply skeptical of a government scarred by the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy three years ago and enveloped in controversy over planning for a new airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The survey polled 1,002 adult residents randomly by telephone from Sept. 4 to 14. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The reported margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

Judging from the responses on homosexuality and immigration, pollsters Mark Baldassare and Cheryl Katz concluded that the county tends to be “more liberal on social issues” than the nation as a whole.

Michael J. Schroeder, chairman of the state Republican Party, ascribed the results to the county’s tradition of libertarianism.

“It misses the mark a bit to talk about Orange County being more liberal,” Schroeder said. “Within the Republican Party, there are basically two strains: social conservatives and libertarians. And Orange County is basically libertarian central--basically hostile toward government, period.”

To be sure, the county tilts to the right: 41% of residents call themselves conservatives and 28% liberals. But 31% say they are “middle of the road.” The political profile of Latino residents was no different from that of the county as a whole.

The survey showed that county residents tend to express their conservatism on fiscal and economic issues.

However, when asked whether homosexuality should be “accepted” or “discouraged” by society, 56% in Orange County chose acceptance, compared with 44% nationwide in a 1996 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

And in a county known for spearheading the fight against illegal immigration, just 36% of residents surveyed agreed with the statement that “immigrants today are a burden on our country.” That was less than 54% who held such a view nationwide in the Pew survey.

In addition, 53% of Orange County residents said they believe immigrants “strengthen our country,” compared with 37% nationwide.

In November 1994, Orange County voters backed Proposition 187, which sought to eliminate government aid to illegal immigrants, by a landslide 2-to-1 ratio.

A prominent backer of that anti-illegal immigration initiative said the UCI survey--which did not ask about legal versus illegal immigration--must be wrong.

“I have reams of documents on the problems within Orange County that are attributable to a deluge of immigrants and the impact it’s having on our communities--everything from stolen shopping carts to clogged traffic, and so on and so forth,” said Barbara Coe of Huntington Beach, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.”

But Gil Flores, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the survey was on target. “If you talk to the people in general, to the average working citizen, you will find that they have a good understanding that immigrants are not a burden here,” he said. “The economy is able to absorb the work force.”

Many of the survey’s other findings seemed unsurprising for a county with a surging economy and sizzling housing market. But the degree of optimism was notable.

“These are really extraordinarily good times in Orange County--for everything but county government,” said Baldassare, a professor of urban and regional planning.

Seven out of 10 homeowners said buying a home is a good or excellent investment, up 10 percentage points in one year and 20 points in two. In addition, nearly nine out of 10 residents gave positive ratings to the county’s quality of life, also continuing an upward trend.

Asked to name the county’s most pressing public policy problem, more residents picked crime than any other issue: 24%. Law and order has consistently been a top priority in the county, though concern about crime has dropped from a peak rating of 31% in 1994. The downward trend jibes with recently announced federal statistics showing a 15% drop in serious crime in Orange County’s seven largest cities in the first half of the year.

There was, however, mounting concern about traffic and growth: A combined 32% cited one or the other as the top problem, up 10 points from the year before.

The survey found conflicting views on public schools. On the one hand, 50% of residents gave Orange County’s schools good or excellent ratings, far better than the 28% posted in 1991.

But the resurgent goodwill fails to translate into support for new taxes for public schools. Orange County voters have not backed a school bond or tax increase for many years, even though many school campuses are in disrepair or filled past capacity.

The survey showed the situation probably will not change soon. Just 44% favored a tax increase for schools, while half were opposed. Only a bare majority of residents with children in public schools, 51%, favored a tax increase--far short of the two-thirds margin of approval required at the ballot box.

An issue that appears to unite residents is the performance of county government. Just one in four say the county is doing a good or excellent job. Four in 10 believe the county wastes a lot of tax money, and an equal number disapprove of how the county has handled planning for reuse of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

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Still Stinging

Three years after the bankruptcy and savoring a buoyant economy, county residents still have a dim view of their local government:

* How would you rate the performance of county government in solving problems in Orange County?

Excellent: 2%

Good: 24

Fair: 50

Poor: 20

Don’t know: 4

* When your county government leaders decide what policies to adopt, how much attention do you think they pay to what the people think?

A lot: 6%

Some: 50

Very little: 35

None: 7

Don’t know: 2

* In general, do you think the people who run county government:

Waste a lot of the money we pay in taxes: 40%

Waste some of the money: 44

Waste very little of the money: 9

Waste none of the money: 2

Don’t know: 5

Liberal Views

Although Orange County is still predominantly a politically conservative place, some of its social stands are to the left of the rest of the nation:

* Please tell me whether the first statement or the second statement comes closer to your own views--even if neither is exactly right: homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society/homosexuality is a way of life that should be discouraged by society

*--*

O.C. U.S. Accepted 56% 44% Discouraged 35 49 Neither/don’t know 9 7

*--*

Immigrants today strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents/immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care:

*--*

O.C. U.S. Strengthen country 53% 37% Burden on country 36 54 Neither/don’t know 11 9

*--*

Note: Nationwide data from Pew Center survey

Source: 1997 Orange County Annual Survey, UCI