Public Interest – Surveys

Boise State Surveys

It feels a little strange to send you this newsletter about our surveys in light of the current crisis. Discussing hands-free driving regulations and transportation attitudes seems a little surreal, like an artifact from another time. Things have certainly changed since we produced the material for this newsletter just a few short weeks ago. So much so, that I’ve questioned whether I should even send this out.

Despite the new normal in which we all find ourselves, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the way Idahoans care about family and community. The current crisis has demonstrated that most Idahoans are calmly doing their best to care for loved ones and the people around us, while also engaging in social distancing practices.

We are living in unprecedented times. If you’re like me, I’m trying to balance the pieces I’m reading about COVID-19 with pieces of interest that will live beyond our current pandemic. It is in this context that we present you with the latest issue of Public Interest. Here, we’ll show you how our surveys reveal the attitudes of Idahoans on important issues like traffic, growth, education and housing. We’ll also introduce you to the director of the Idaho Policy Institute as well as to our own survey director, each of whose great work has contributed to our understanding of important public policy issues in Idaho and beyond.

Thanks for listening. Take care and be well.

Andrew Giacomazzi
Interim Dean, School of Public Service
Boise State University

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Statewide survey shows Idaho residents are optimistic but concerned about growth

Fifth Annual Idaho Public Policy Survey

The 2020 Idaho Public Policy Survey shows that the state’s residents remain optimistic about the state’s economic future, continue to cite education as the top priority for the state legislature and are concerned about rapid growth.

Growth was cited as the most important issue facing Idaho, and 57 percent of respondents said they believe Idaho is growing too fast.

Read the Fifth Annual Statewide Survey

Surveying Idaho: Five Questions with SPS Survey director Jeff Lyons

What issues matter most to Idahoans? And how do our surveys help decision-makers? Read an interview with School of Public Service Survey Director Jeffrey Lyons in The Blue Review, Boise State’s Journal of Popular Scholarship.

“We do a number of presentations of our survey work to elected officials at both the state and local level, and we definitely hope that the information we are providing is helpful for understanding what peoples’ policy preferences are. For the most part there is very little publicly available survey data in the state of Idaho, so decisionmakers are often relying on other ways of trying to know what the public thinks such as emails and phone calls from constituents or comments at public hearings. While these are very useful and important, the members of the public who engage in these activities are probably not representative of everyone. So, there have been a number of times where we have presented our results and we see eyebrows raise.”

Read Surveying Idaho in The Blue Review

Traffic congestion and affordable housing remain top concerns in Treasure Valley, new Boise State survey shows

Treasure Valley Survey

A sizeable majority of Treasure Valley residents – 75 percent – believe that growth in the Treasure Valley is occurring too fast, a number that is up substantially from the 50 percent who reported this attitude in 2016, according to the fourth annual survey of Treasure Valley residents conducted by Boise State University’s School of Public Service.

One thousand people living in Ada, Canyon, Boise, Gem and Owyhee counties responded to the survey. Respondents all were over the age of 18. This was a mixed-mode survey that contacted respondents on land line phones (33 percent), cell phones (33 percent), online (33 percent), and via text message (3 percent), in order to increase coverage of the population to people who may not respond to traditional phone surveys. The survey includes a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Academics talking academics in elevators

In the third episode of our exciting series “Academics in Elevators,” Interim Dean Andrew Giacomazzi and Greg Hill, Executive Director of the Idaho Policy Institute, discuss:

Why does Boise State conduct surveys?
Who benefits from the surveys?
Are Boise State students involved in creating surveys and reports?
What are some interesting things learned from the recent Statewide survey?
Can anyone hire IPI to create a survey?

Read a transcript of this interview

Watch Academics Talking Academics in Elevators