Lindholm Company Blog

Eugenean’s ratings of downtown have fallen precipitously during the past two years. There has been a nearly constant drop in “good” ratings and rise in “poor” ratings.

Also note that this particular time series started two years ago and the trend has been reasonably consistent.

QUESTION: How would you rate the business environment in downtown Eugene: excellent, good, fair, poor?
METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of City of Eugene likely General Election voters were conducted each of June 1-2, 2015, September 21-22, 2015, December 1-2, 2015, September 13-15, 2016, and April 10-11, 2017. The margin of error at the sample median for each is 7%.

This chart highlights the seasonality of attitudes on homelessness in Eugene. Support for relaxing the regulations is greatest, though not even then a plurality, during the colder months. Last September, however, the attitude was strongly negative.

QUESTION: Do you approve or disapprove of the City of Eugene relaxing code enforcement on homeless camping?
IF APPROVE/DISAPPROVE: Is that strongly or somewhat?
IF DON’T KNOW: Which way do you lean?

METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene General election voters were conducted December 1-2, 2015, and February 22-23 and September 13-15, 2016.The margin of error at the sample median for this surveys is 7%. In addition, 240 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene General election voters were conducted November 29 through December 1, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median for this survey is 6%.

There is no strong support for relaxing homeless code enforcement. It is worth noting that this survey was conducted after Thanksgiving and the weather had started to turn wintry.

QUESTION: Do you approve or disapprove of the City of Eugene relaxing code enforcement on homeless camping?
IF APPROVE/DISAPPROVE: Is that strongly or somewhat?
IF DON’T KNOW: Which way do you lean?

METHODOLOGY: 240 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene General election voters were conducted November 29 through December 1, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 6%.

Eugeneans solidly support renaming Broadway Plaza as Kesey Square.

QUESTION: Do you support or oppose renaming downtown’s Broadway Plaza as Kesey Square?
IF SUPPORT/OPPOSE: Is that strongly or somewhat?
IF DON’T KNOW: Which way do you lean?

METHODOLOGY: 240 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene General election voters were conducted November 29 through December 1, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 6%.

There is overwhelming support for increased police patrols in downtown Eugene.
QUESTION: Do you support or oppose increasing police patrols in downtown Eugene?
IF SUPPORT/OPPOSE: Is that strongly or somewhat?
IF DON’T KNOW: Which way do you lean?

METHODOLOGY: 240 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene General election voters were conducted November 29 through December 1, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 6%.

This graphic places Lucy Vinis’ name familiarity deficit in perspective. Only the five most prominent Eugene officials are included – her peer group. She is far behind Mayor Piercy and both county commissioners. She is even well behind Mike Clark whom she bested in May. No other major candidate for mayor in at least 20 years has had a name familiarity this low at this time of the year.

There are several possible reasons for this. To begin with, Vinis has been nearly invisible since her victory in May. Another is probably that Vinis is new to elective office. She has no long-term constituency. It could also show that Vinis’ mayoral quest was more campaign-driven, she talked to the voters she needed to talk to, than community-driven, engaging in a broad community discussion.

Though mayor’s tend to become well known once they assume office, no one starts with 95% name identification, a 40-point deficit seems extreme. This lack of name familiarity, whatever the cause, could turn out to be a serious problem.

QUESTION: Now, I am going to read the names of some people and organizations. Please tell me whether you have heard of each.
NAMES READ IN RANDOM ORDER
1. Mike Clark
2. Kitty Piercy
3. Pat Farr
4. Peter Sorenson
5. Lucy Vinis

METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene 2016 General election voters were conducted September 13-15, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 7%.

N.B. The “20 years” refers to the firm’s polling. It seems reasonable one could go much further back. It is hard to imagine that less than two-thirds of Eugeneans were familiar with either Ruth Bascom or Mary Burrows in 1992, Jeff Miller or Emily Schue in 1988, Brian Obie in 1984, etc.

This graphic expands the list of persons included. Mayor Piercy and both county commissioners top the list as one would expect.

Unexpectedly, Lucy Vinis, who just won the mayoral primary and will appear unopposed on the November ballot, is in the middle of the list.

QUESTION: Now, I am going to read the names of some people and organizations. Please tell me whether you have heard of each.
NAMES READ IN RANDOM ORDER
1. George Brown
2. Betty Taylor
3. Alan Zelenka
4. George Poling
5. Mike Clark
6. Greg Evans
7. Claire Syrett
8. Chris Pryor
9. Kitty Piercy
10. Pat Farr
11. Peter Sorenson
12. Lucy Vinis

METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene 2016 General election voters were conducted September 13-15, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 7%.

This graphic shows the name familiarity of the eight city councilors. The order is pretty much what one would expect. Betty Taylor remains the best known. Mike Clark, fresh off his mayoral bid, is next. Chris Pryor comes third.

QUESTION: Now, I am going to read the names of some people and organizations. Please tell me whether you have heard of each.
NAMES READ IN RANDOM ORDER
1. George Brown
2. Betty Taylor
3. Alan Zelenka
4. George Poling
5. Mike Clark
6. Greg Evans
7. Claire Syrett
8. Chris Pryor

METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene 2016 General election voters were conducted September 13-15, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 7%.

Mayor Piercy’s approval rating has taken a sharp turn for the worse since where it was early in the year. This drop could be driven by a number of issues. Among the most likely are problems with the new city hall and dissatisfaction with the city’s homeless policy.

QUESTION: How would you rate the job Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy is doing: excellent, good, fair, poor?
METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene 2016 General election voters were conducted on each of February 16-18, June 1-2, September 21-22 and December 1-2, 2015 and February 22-23 and September 13-15, 2016. The margin of error at each sample median is 7%.

As usual, excellent and good responses are grouped as approve and fair and poor responses are grouped as disapprove. Experience with the measure  across many local executive positions has found it is a good predictor of electoral support.

Eugene voters strongly prefer refurbishing to building. This is a common survey result since refurbishing is seen as less expensive than building. A better interpretation, since no immediate refurbishing plan is out there, is that Eugeneans are very, very cost sensitive. Considering the continual cost overruns and planning delays, who can blame them.

QUESTION: Should the City of Eugene build a new city hall or buy and refurbish an existing building?
IF BUILD/BUY: Is that strongly or somewhat?
IF DON’T KNOW: Which way do you lean?

METHODOLOGY: 200 live telephone interviews of likely City of Eugene 2016 General election voters were conducted September 13-15, 2016. The margin of error at the sample median is 7%.