THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MCCORMACK INSTITUTE POLL / June 17-25, 1998 * UMASS/AMHERST * TOTALSAMPLE= 474 (+/-5%) GENERALELECTION SAMPLE=401 (+/- 5%) 31EDbt. QEflS ETIM 7 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY SAMPLE= 322 (+/-6%) 1. First, forhowmanyyearshaveyou lived at your currentaddress? 10% 1. less than 1 year 16 2. more than 1 but less than 3 11 3. more than 3 butless than 5 19 4. more than 5 butless than 10 13 5. more than 10butless than 15 GOVERN' ENT D0CUMEfii5 32 6. 15 ormore . COLLECTION 7. notsure/don'tknow 2. Which ofthe followingbestdescribesthecityor town whereyou live? qqj 2 3 1998 17% 1. an urban areawith more than 100,000people Massachusells 16 2. urban areawith between 50 and 100,000people University cf Copy 21 3. small citywith between 25 and50,000people Defosilorv 17 4. asuburban area 24 5. small town with less than 10,000people 2 6. other 3 7. : notsure/don'tknow 3. Howwouldyou describe theavailabilityofhousing in yourcommunityforsomeonelikeyou, would you say thereare: 19% 1. alotofhouses available 46 2. enough houses 30 3. notenough houses available 6 4. not sure/don'tknow : 4. Wouldyou describe thecostofhousing in yourcommunityforsomeonelikeyou ashigh, moderate, orlow? 39% 1. high 50 2. moderate 6 3. low 5 4. notsure/don'tknow 5. Whatkindofbuilding doyou livein, isita: ? 57% 1. singlefamily 21 2. two tofour family 7 3. condocomplex 14 4. apartmentbuilding (5 ORMOREUNITS) 2 5. other 0 6. : notsure/don'tknow I 6. Doyou own orrentyour home? 64% own 1. 35 2. rent 1 3. notsure/don'tknow 7. Was thepurchaseprice: 38% 1. less than $100,000 19 2. between 100 and $149,000 14 3. between 150 and $199,000 7 4. between 200 and $249,000 4 5. between 250 and $299,000 2 6. between 300 and $349,000 3 7. more than 400K 13 8. : not sure/don'tknow 8. Did you getanyfinancial help tobuyyour home from alocal, state, or federal governmentprogramotagency? 11% 1. yes 85 2. no 4 3. notsure/don'tknow-I 9. Whatis yourmonthlyrent, withoututilities, isit: 28% 1. less than $500 30 2. between 500 and $699 21 3. between 700 and $899 7 4. between 900 and $1,100 8 5. more than $1,100 7 6. : notsure/don'tknow 10. Has theamountofrentyou payincreasedin thepast twoyears? 41% 1. yes 56 2. no 3 3. notsure/don'tknow i 11. Does anylocal, state, or federal governmentprogram oragencypayaportion ofyourrent? 12% 1. yes 88 2. no — 3. notsure/don'tknow 12. Whatprogram or agencyprovides theassistance? Is thatalocal, state, or federal governmentprogram? 5% 1. Social security HUD 10 2. AFDC 5 3. 5 4. Home City 15 5. Federal govemment-n.s. 35 6. Section * 5 7. Local government 10 8. Don'tknow 5 9. Refused Digitized by the Internet Archive 2015 in https://archive.org/details/universityofmass998john 13. Would you liketoown yourown home? 67% 1. yes 31 2. no 2 3. notsure/don'tknow 14. Which ofthefollowing is thegreatestobstacle toyourowning yourhome? 23% 1. lackofadown payment 14 2. lackofgood credit 27 3. don'tearn enough money 5 4. can'tafford alargeenough homeformysizefamily 0 5. interestratesaretoohigh 14 6. monthlymortgagepaymentwouldbe toohigh 9 7. : other 8 8. : noneofabove 0 9. : not sure/don'tknow 15. Does theamountofyourmonthlyhousingpayment (MORTGAGEORRENT)makeithardforyourfamilyto makeendsmeet? 25% 1. yes 73 2. no 3 3. notsure/don'tknow 16. Have youbeen late in making amonthlyhousing payment (MORTGAGE ORRENT) in thelast year? 11% 1. yes 86 2. no 3 3. notsure/don'tknow 17. Now turning tosomequestions aboutpubliclyassisted housing. To thebestofyourknowledge, is thereany housing in yourcommunityforpersons with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities? 60% l.yes 22 2. no V 18 3. notsure/don'tknow 18. In your opinion, does this typeofhousing improve, devalue, ormakenodifferencetothequalityoflifein your community? 25% 1. improve 7 2. devalue 65 3. makenodifference 4 4. notsure/don'tknow 19. Arethereshelters for thehomeless in yourcommunity? 36% l.yes 45 2. no 19 3. notsure/don'tknow 20. In youropinion, does yourcommunityneedmorehomeless shelters? 36% l.yes 49 2. no 15 3. not sure/don'tknow 21. Tothebestofyourknowledge, is thereanypublichousing in your community, thatis, housing which isonly available tolowincomeresidents? "67% 1. yes 20 2. no 1 14 3. notsure/don'tknow 22. In youropinion, does this typeofhousing improve, devalue, ormakenodifferencetothequalityoflifein your community? 19% 1. improve 17 2. devalue 56 3. makenodifference 7 4. notsure/don'tknow 23. In youropinion, howlong shouldqualified families whocan'taffordprivatehousing bepermitted tolivein publichousing? 38% 1. as long as theycan'tafford tomove 19 2. iftheyhavechildren, stayuntil thechildren growup 30 3. for a fixedperiod oftime, for example, 3-7 years 13 4. : notsure/don'tknow 24. In youropinion, shouldeverycommunityhavesomepublichousing that is, housing which ispubliclyassisted? 84% 1. yes 12 2. no 5 3. notsure/don'tknow 25-30. I'm going toreadalistofproposalsfor governmenthousing assistanceprograms. Pleasetellmeifyou ^ stronglyfavor, favor, oppose, or stronglyopposeeach one. strong strong don'tknow favor favor oppose oppose notsure 25. assistfirsttimehomebuyers w/down paymentandclosing costs 35% 45 11 2 6 26. assistallhomeowners with lowerrates interest 25% 54 12 3 5 27. assistlowincomebuyerswith lowinterestrates 27% 62 6 1 4 28. assistprivatedevelopers tobuildaffordablehousing 18% 56 15 4 6 29. assistlowincomerenters topaytheirrent 17% 54 20 2 7 30. assistpeople65 andover topayfor theirhousing 28% 54 12 1 6 31. Here's aquestion on a slightlydifferent topic. Homeowners can deduct theirmortgage interestandlocalreal estate taxes from theirfederal taxableincome. Doyou consider thisdeduction aform ofgovernmentsubsidy? 41% 1. yes 50 2. no 9 3. notsure/don'tknow 32-34. Hereare somestatementsabout landlords, and I'd likeyou totell meifyou stronglyagree, agree, disagree, or stronglydisagree with each statement. Thefirststatement is: (stronglyagree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree). strong strong don't agree agree disagr disagr know 32. ifaperson has goodcharacter references, good credithistory, and 36% 39 18 4 theabilitytopay, alandlord should belegallyrequired torent to that person 33. landlords shouldhave theright torentornot torent towhomever 13% 50 24 theyplease 34. landlords shouldhave theright toreject tenants with children 28 37 19 8 35. Turning tosomequestions about the UniversityofMassachusetts. Howmuch would you sayyouknowabout thefivecampus UniversityofMassachusetts system, would you sayyou knowagreatdeal, knowquiteabit, know something, or thatyou knowpracticallynothing about it? 6% 1. greatdeal 13 2. quiteabit 40 3. something 39 4. nothing 3 5. noopinion/don'tknow 36. Howwould you describethequalityofeducation at the fivecampuses ofthe UniversityofMassachusetts system? Is itexcellent, good, notsogood, orpoor, or isthat something that you don'tknowmuch about? • 15% 1. excellent 44 2. good 3 3. notsogood 1 4. poor 38 5. don'tknow/notsure 37. Somepeoplesaythathaving ahigh percentageofworkers with acollegeeducation is goodforastate's economy. Howimportant totheMassachusettseconomydoyou think it is tohaveahigh percentageofworkers with acollegeeducation? 45% 1. veryimportant 40 2. somewhatimportant 8 3. notveryimportant 3 4. notat all important 4 5. don'tknow/notsure