MEMORANDUM

To:       Interested Parties

From:   Lake Research Partners

Re:       Summary Findings

Date:    March 18, 2006

The following memo outlines the key survey findings[1] on voters’ attitudes toward removing the Florida Keys’ Area of Critical State Concern designation. 

Key Findings

Ø      Opposition to removing the Keys’ Critical Concern status is remarkably high and intense.  Public opinion at this point is overwhelmingly against de-designation.

Ø      Voters start out opposing this proposal by a 52 point margin (73 oppose to 22 percent support) and nearly two-thirds of the electorate strongly oppose removing the Critical Concern status. 

Ø      Voters are decidedly negative toward candidates who support this proposal.  Two-thirds of voters say they would be much less likely to support a candidate for elected office who favors removing the Critical Concern status.

Ø      Voters report a high level of familiarity with the Critical Concern designation and the majority say they have heard of the effort to remove this protection. 

Ø      Overdevelopment in the Keys and in South Florida is a particular source of concern to voters and they express a clear desire to protect open space and undeveloped areas in the Keys.

Summary Findings

Context

Ø      Voters in the Keys hold a generally positive view of the quality of the environment, with two-thirds expressing a positive view (18 percent excellent, 48 percent good).   Roughly three in ten (28 percent) rate environmental quality as just fair and only 6 percent say it is poor. 

Ø      These positive feelings notwithstanding, voters believe the environment is on the decline.  Slightly more than half (52 percent) say the environment has gotten worse compared to five years ago, while 36 percent say it has stayed about the same and only 8 percent feel that it has gotten better.

Ø      Overdevelopment in the Keys and in South Florida is a particular source of concern to voters.  Fully two-thirds say that there is too much commercial and residential development in the Florida Keys and three quarters say there is too much development in South Florida generally.  A quarter of voters say the amount of development in the Keys is about right and 21 percent say this is true of South Florida.  Very few say there is not enough development (7 percent say not enough development in the Keys; 3 percent say not enough in South Florida).  

Ø      Additionally, there is a strong consensus around the importance of preserving space and undeveloped areas in the Keys.  Three quarters (76 percent) place a significant amount of importance on this issue (44 percent extremely important, 31 percent very important).

Area of Critical Concern Designation

Ø      Voters report a high degree of familiarity with the Keys’ designation as an Area of Critical State Concern (74 percent familiar, 38 percent very) and a majority (57 percent) say they have heard of the effort to remove this protection. 

Ø      There is intense opposition to removing the Critical Concern designation at the outset of the survey.  Over seven in ten (73 percent) oppose this proposal, with 65 percent expressing strong opposition.[2] 

o       Strong opposition to removing the Critical Concern designation cuts across the political spectrum.  Over eight in ten Democrats (84 percent) oppose this proposal, while two thirds (67 percent) of both Republicans and independents are opposed.