The 2007 Southern California Public Opinion Survey is supported by the UCLA Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and is designed to gather the views and opinions of Southern California residents on critical public policy issues in this region. The survey was developed with input from campus partners, including Professors Don Nakahishi, Abel Valenzuela, Roger Waldinger, and Melany De La Cruz, assistant director of the Asian American Studies Center.

The 2007 Survey gathered basic demographic data and covered four topical areas:

   1. Major Issues Facing the Region
   2. Efficacy of Local Government
   3. Immigration
   4. Neighborhoods

When possible, questions were worded to parallel existing questions from other surveys.

The Survey was conducted in English and Spanish during the months of February, March, April and May 2007 using random digit dialing, and the data were collected by The Social Science Research Center at California State University, Fullerton. There are 1502 completed surveys for the five counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura. The sample is divided proportionally by county household population. The characteristics of the sample by age, ethnicity, income, education and nativity are roughly consistent with the 2005 American Community Survey, though SCS respondents do tend to be slightly older. There is a sampling error of +/- 2.5 percent at the 95 percent confidence level for the full sample. (Sampling error may be larger for subpopulations).

Issue 1: Almost Half of So. Cal. Residents Support Providing a Path to Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants

The 2006 survey found that in general southern California residents are divided on issues of immigration policy, but in most cases they do appear less conservative than residents nationally. Residents are divided as to whether legal immigration should be increased or decreased, with the highest percentage opting to simply keep it at the present level. At the national level there is less support for increasing immigration and more support for decreasing immigration.

Issue 2: Ratings of So. Cal. Local Government Lukewarm - Again

A majority of Southern California residents have some degree of confidence in their local government, although they have less confidence in local government’s ability to solve the problems that most affect them. We see very little difference in confidence levels among demographic groups. Overall, ratings of local government performance vary by issue area, but residents generally rate performance as neither adequate nor inadequate but somewhere in the middle. For the most part there is little change on any of these indicators over the past three years.

Issue 3: Immigration Bumps Transportation as Region's Top Problem

The top problems in Southern California are a combination of regional concerns, such as traffic, and larger concerns that may be shared nationally, such as the economy. Immigration falls into both areas, as it has become part of a national debate over the past two years, but also impacts the region a great deal because of the large number of immigrants who live here. It seems clear that the national debates and media coverage on immigration reform have bumped this issue up to the primary concern in the region this year more than any specific issue that involves immigration locally. It is also a problem that should be dealt with comprehensively at the federal level.

Issue 4: So. Cal. Neighborhoods Important Forum for Civic Engagement and Fostering Trust

Given the importance of trust and civic engagement to healthy functioning communities, it is heartening to know that southern California residents are participating in activities at the neighborhood level, and have a significant level of trust in their neighborhood. Looking at which groups are more civically engaged and also more trusting again reveals the link between the two. When we examine variations in trust by socioeconomic and demographic groups we consistently find higher levels of trust among older respondents, the well educated, those with higher incomes, and among whites. (Although the differences were greater when asked about trust in general, we still find the same variations when asking about trust in one's neighbors.) Similarly, these same groups have higher levels of engagement, as we find they are most likely to have donated and/or volunteered for charity, contacted an elected official and attended a neighborhood meeting.