Hoosiers think job creation should be the top priority for state government, according to a just-released survey of our opinions.
We rate crime reduction as the second-highest priority, followed closely by improving local schools.
Those conclusions come from the seventh annual Hoosier Survey conducted by The Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University and WISH-TV of Indianapolis.
While creating jobs ranks first on our list, with 78 percent calling it a priority, its importance slid from 83 percent a year ago. Maybe that’s because unemployment is easing.
The high support for improving public schools comes at a time when many think state government is doing more harm than good. In spite of squabbles over testing, funding and vouchers, 75 percent of Hoosiers say they’re very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with public schools. That’s up from 66 percent a year ago. People who actually have children in schools tend to be more satisfied than others.
Staying on the topic of education, a whopping 82 percent of Hoosiers support pre-kindergarten programs for all children. The state is starting a pilot program involving five counties, but Hoosiers already believe it should spread to all counties.
Just more than two-thirds of us support free textbooks to students in public schools. Indiana is reported to be one of only eight states where families pay for their children’s textbooks. More than two-thirds of people surveyed would agree to a 3 percent increase in school funding to cover textbooks.
Next year, legislators are likely to have enough money for a modest increase in school funding, so they’ll face tough choices. Should they spend it on more preschool, free textbooks or a boost for overall school operations?
That gets to the question of what to do with Indiana’s highly prized budget surplus. The survey finds no majority opinion. It shows 39 percent of us want to save the surplus for a rainy day. Another 31 percent believe in spending some of the surplus on education, job creation and retraining, fire and police protection, highways and roads — a long list. Using the surplus to help cut the business personal property tax is favored by 22 percent — although some might count that as job creation.
Interpreted another way, more than 60 percent of us support spending some of the surplus on something. But among Republicans, 49 percent want to save the surplus.
The survey finds support for same-sex marriage in Indiana is holding steady at 47 percent. Age and political party make a big difference on this question. What’s most telling is that support runs at 77 percent among people ages 18-24 and 56 percent among ages 25-34. Ten years from now, this might barely be controversial.
If you’ve ever tried to explain the logic of Indiana’s unique and confusing alcohol laws, don’t bother. They make sense only to fiercely competing alcohol retailers. The survey finds 52 percent of us support allowing Sunday sales of liquor and 57 percent favor permitting supermarkets to sell cold beer. That’s probably not enough to motivate a change.
Whatever they do, state leaders can feel good about the way Hoosiers view them. The survey found 45 percent of people trust the state government to do what is right all or most of the time, while only 21 percent feel that way about the national government. Gov. Mike Pence enjoys an approval rating of 62 percent, and the Legislature gets a thumbs-up from 57 percent of us.
Here’s hoping that in 2015, our state leaders make decisions that justify those high approval ratings.