Education on voters' minds, poll shows

Advertiser Staff

Education is emerging as a top campaign issue this year, according to a public opinion poll of 2,500 Hawai'i residents released yesterday.

When asked to decide which of four issues is the most important for candidates running for the state House to address, 47 percent of those polled cited the quality of education as the top issue. Twenty-seven percent cited job creation as most important, according to results published in The People's Pulse newsletter.

Eleven percent said social welfare programs was the top issue, while 11 percent picked government deregulation.

The quarterly poll is sponsored by the Hawai'i Business Roundtable, an organization of business executives, along with Pacific Resource Partnership, an alliance of the Hawai'i carpenters' union and contractors, and the economic development group Enterprise Honolulu.

The poll was based on statewide telephone interviews conducted June 20-July 17. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The poll also asked residents of all islands to say how important various concerns are to them, and educational issues again were at the top of the voters' list.

Providing enough money for public school instruction was ranked as "very important" by 86 percent of those polled, and repairing public schools was considered very important by 81 percent.

The next most highly ranked issues were creating jobs and reducing crime, each ranked as very important by 79 percent.