Center for Survey Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 10, 2002

Pennsylvanians Consider Economic Issues Most Pressing

MIDDLETOWN, Pa.---Results of the 2001 Penn State Poll, an annual telephone survey conducted by Penn State Harrisburg’s Center for Survey Research, indicate that Pennsylvanians identified economic issues, primarily lack of jobs and unemployment, as the most important problem facing Pennsylvania today (27%), followed by education issues (16%), high taxes (8%), Pennsylvania’s roads and highway system (5%) and crime and/or drugs (4%). According to Dr. Barbara Sims, director of the Penn State Poll and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Penn State Harrisburg, “We thought respondents would be much more concerned about terrorism and crime issues than they were.”

Overall, Pennsylvanians are satisfied with the way things are going in Pennsylvania (85% reporting that they are either “very satisfied” or “more or less satisfied”). When asked, however, whether they believe that things will go better for Pennsylvania over the next year, only 31% say that they believe things will get better in the next year, with 44% reporting that they believe things will stay the same. A small percentage (17%) of Pennsylvanians say that they believe things will actually go worse for Pennsylvania throughout the next year.

A series of questions asked Pennsylvanians to what extent they worry about crime victimization. Results of the survey indicate that they are not overly worried about becoming the victim of a crime. Only 20% of respondents said that they either “very frequently” or “somewhat frequently” worry about being the victim of an assault, and even less (13%) reported that they worry about being murdered. A slightly higher number of respondents, however, report worrying about their home being burglarized (32%) or about either themselves or a member of their family being the victim of sexual assault (32%). When it comes to robbery, less than a quarter (22%) of Pennsylvanians reported that they worry about that type of victimization.

Additional crime and/or justice questions queried Pennsylvanians about their attitudes toward: separate justice systems for special populations, the spending of tax dollars for prison expansion and early intervention programs in the lives of at-risk youths, the purpose of prison, and the death penalty. While agreeing that there should be a separate justice system for mentally disabled offenders (68% responding either “strongly agree” or “agree”), respondents were more likely to disagree with separate justice systems for the physically disabled offenders (only 40% agreeing) or for the elderly offender (only 26% agreeing).

When given the option of having their tax dollars spent on building more prisons to house criminals or on early intervention programs in the lives of at-risk youth to prevent crime from occurring in the first place, a clear majority of Pennsylvanians chose the latter. Eighty-one percent of respondents said that they preferred to see their tax dollars go for intervention programming, and only 11% said that they preferred to have their tax dollars spent on building more prisons.

Pennsylvanians were next asked the question, “Once people who commit crimes are in prison, which of the following do you think should be the most important goal of prison?” Forty-two percent of respondents said that they believe the most important goal of prison should be rehabilitation --to train, educate and counsel offenders to help them become law-abiding citizens. Twenty percent of those surveyed said that they believe the most important goal of prisons should be to keep offenders off the streets, and an equal percentage (20%) responded, “to make sure offenders serve their full sentences so that they and others will learn that crime doesn’t pay.” Only 11% of Pennsylvanians reported that they believe the most important goal of prison is to see that criminals “get their just deserts.”

Although a majority of Pennsylvanians (66%) report being in favor of the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, that number drops considerably when asked about the death penalty for mentally retarded individuals and for young people under the age of 18. Only 22% of respondents said that they favor the death penalty for mentally retarded individuals, and a slightly higher percentage (35%) said that they favor the death penalty for individuals under the age of 18 who commit murder.

A final set of questions asked Pennsylvanians about their fear of terrorism and about their attitudes toward military action in Afghanistan. Eleven percent of respondents said that they worry “very frequently” about being the victim of a terrorist attack, 28% that they worry "somewhat frequently,” and 58% said that “seldom” or “never” worry. A slightly higher number of Pennsylvanians reported that they worry about their friends and/or loved ones being a victim of a terrorist attack (17% “very frequently”; 37% “somewhat frequently”).

When it comes to favoring the current military action in Afghanistan, a clear majority (88%) of Pennsylvanians reported that they favor such action. That number stays about the same when asked whether citizens favor the United States taking direct military action in Afghanistan even if it could result in thousands of civilian Afghanistan casualties (86% favor such action). Only 6% of Pennsylvanians said that they are opposed to such action, with the remaining respondents reporting that they either did not know or were not sure.

The Penn State Poll is an annual random telephone survey of Pennsylvanians 18 years of age and older. The Poll is designed to allow organizations with a statewide interest to keep abreast of Pennsylvania public opinion. The 2001 survey yielded 849 completed interviews and was conducted between October 12 and December 5, 2001. The margin-of-error for a simple random sample of this size is between 2.1 and 3.5 percentage points. Percentages reported here may not always total to 100 due to rounding and/or missing data.

Editors: Question about the Penn State Poll should be directed to Dr. Barbara Sims, Faculty Director, Center for Survey Research, Penn State Harrisburg at (717) 948-6044.