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JCC Center for Community Studies Releases Results of
23rd Annual North Country Survey of the Community
Published: January 27, 2023
at 02:45 p.m.
By: Press Release from JCC Center for Community
Studies
CENTER FOR COMMUNITY STUDIES RELEASES RESULTS
OF
23RD ANNUAL NORTH COUNTRY SURVEY OF THE COMMUNITY
The Center for
Community Studies (CCS) at Jefferson Community College (JCC) released the
findings of its 23rd Annual North Country Survey of the Community on
Thursday, January 26, 2023.
The survey is an
annual inventory of the attitudes and opinions of a representative sample
of North Country adult residents, and has been
completed by the Center each year in Jefferson County since 2000. The
survey expanded to include Lewis County annually in 2007, and further
expanded to include St. Lawrence County in 2015. The primary goal of
the survey is to collect data regarding quality-of-life issues of
importance to local citizens, and consequently provides an annual
“snapshot” of life in the North Country. Additionally, analysis of
the 23rd Annual Survey data provides an information-rich “motion-picture”
of changes in the lives of residents spanning over 20 years when trends are
investigated via comparing with earlier-year results. The longitudinal
trended data included in this study summarize results of over 20,000
interviews that have been completed in a total of 47 county-specific
surveys of the community in the three counties since 2000.
In 2022, a
mixed-mode sampling design was employed in the study to complete a total of
1,458 interviews of adult residents of the tri-county region, with 563
Jefferson County residents, 465 Lewis County residents, and 430 St.
Lawrence County residents. Working under the supervision of the CCS
research staff in both a social-distanced call center in Watertown and a
virtual remote call center, statistics students at the College completed
561 telephone interviews on both the landline and cellular phones of North
Country adult residents on the evenings of October 26-31, 2022. An
additional 820 surveys were completed online by North Country adult
residents after receiving random email invitations to participate, and
finally, 77 intercept surveys were completed at Fort Drum to assist in
attaining accurate representation of the military-affiliated subpopulation
in the sample collected in the study. The result of this sampling of 1,458
North Country residents is an approximate margin of error of ±2.9% after
weighting sample survey results toward North Country population
characteristics.
Highlighted
Findings from the 2022 Study:
Pocketbook
Issues
More than in any
previous year of study, North Country residents in 2022 expressed that
out-of-pocket cost-of living expenses are problematic. “Inflation” was by
far the most common free response provided
by participants (40%) to the open-ended question “What do you think is the
single largest issue that is facing residents of the North Country right
now?”
Personal
Financial Situations Getting Worse
The rate of
expressing that one’s personal financial situation has “gotten worse” in
2022 among North Country adults (51% in the three-county region combined,
over 60% in St. Lawrence County) is the highest ever measured since
tracking of this variable began in 2008. Universally in the
past “remained the same” has been the most common response to this survey
item. In 2022 “getting worse” is the most common response in all three
studied counties. Of note is the tremendous change in responses to this
survey question between 2019 and 2022 – comparing pre-pandemic to the
current endemic coronavirus period. Responses of “gotten worse”
increased from under 20% in the region in 2019 to over 50% in 2022. The
2022 results are even more negative than the difficult recession-related
year of 2008 (when the rate of “gotten better” was only 12%, while the “gotten
worse” was the previous all-time high of approximately 40%).
What direction
are things heading – In the country? In New York State? In the North
Country?
North Country
residents in 2022 have expressed clear and increasing concern that, in
general, things in New York State and in the entire U.S. are heading in the
wrong direction. In 2022 only 14% of participants believe that things in
the country are headed in the right direction, while 68% believe that
things in the country are headed in the wrong direction (similarly, these
rates were 18% and 68%, respectively, while assessing the direction of
things in New York State in 2022). Residents, however, are more optimistic,
although not tremendously positive, with how things are going locally as
33% of participants in 2022 believe that things in their county are headed
in the right direction, while 41% believe that things in their county are
headed in the wrong direction. These local satisfaction rates have dropped
significantly recently, as an example, these rates in Lewis County were 61%
right and 18% wrong, respectively, when first measured in the 2019 survey.
Quality of K-12
Education, Residents are Currently Less Satisfied than has been Found in
the Past
A long-term
tracked community quality-of-life variable that has been recorded is level
of agreement/disagreement with the statement “K-12 schools in your county
are adequately preparing our young people for the technology and economy of
the future.” In 2022, the level of satisfaction with local K-12 education
in the North Country has reached the lowest satisfaction ever measured. A
minority of North Country adults agree with this statement (only 36% of
adult residents responded with “agree”). The rate of agreement at times has
been as high as 80%, and recently in 2017 the rate of agreement represented
a majority in all three studied counties (in 2017 the rate was 75% in
Lewis, 69% in St. Lawrence, and 56% in Jefferson).
Availability of
Housing and Healthcare
Adults in the
North Country in 2022 are less satisfied with the five following studied
community-and-government-provided services: Healthcare access; Availability
of care for the elderly; Availability of housing; Availability of
childcare; and Availability of behavioral health services. The rates
responding “Excellent or Good” to each of these services are significantly
lower than long-term local averages.
Access to Higher
Education in the North Country – Stable or Improving
In each of
Jefferson County and St. Lawrence County the likelihood to rate access to
higher education has remained quite stable over the duration of surveying
in the respective counties (2022 rate of “Excellent or Good” in Jefferson
is 60% with a long-term county average of 64%; and the 2022 rate of
“Excellent or Good” in St. Lawrence is 75% with a long-term county average
of 74%). By contrast, satisfaction with access to higher education in
Lewis County has shown recent improvement (2022 rate of “Excellent or Good”
in Lewis is 53% with a past rate of 37% when first measured in 2009, 42% in
2021, and a long-term county average of 45%).
Political
Ideology – What the majority of residents self-report is not what tends to
get the most publicity
In all three
counties it has consistently been the case over the past 23 years of North
Country public opinion polling that when asked one’s political beliefs or
ideology, middle-of-the-road is the most common response. Regardless of the
overwhelming notion in our current society of political polarization, it
remains that among North Country adult residents 44% identify as
middle-of-the-road; 32% conservative; 14% liberal; and 10% not sure.
2022 Mid-term
Election Polling
In recent years
the Center for Community Studies has completed political election polling
as a component of this quality-of-life survey study. During this 2022 study
election polling was completed for all three of: the New York State
Governor’s race (Kathy Hochul vs. Lee Zeldin);
the NY 21st Congressional Election (Elise Stefanik vs. Matt Castelli); and
the NY 24th Congressional Election (Claudia Tenney
vs. Steven Holden). The Center for Community Studies polled and predicted
election results for both the tri-county region and each county. Each of
these nine election predictions based on CCS polling fell within the margin
of error of the actual certified election results. Results of the CCS 2022
election polling are summarized in the following graph:
North Country
Opinions Regarding National-level Political Issues
When data for
this study was collected, timing was two weeks preceding the elections in
November 2022. At that point in time, much research was being completed
nationwide attempting to identify possible variables that are strongly
linked with voter choices. Three of these national-level political
issues that were investigated and a summary of the local tri-county results
are:
a.) 53% of participants disagree while
21% agree, with the statement: “The people who were arrested for entering
the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 were lawfully exercising their right as
Americans to protest."
b.) 44% of participants agree while 33%
disagree, with the statement "I believe that the 2020 Presidential
election was fair and Joe Biden won the
election."
c.) 46% of participants disagree while
27% agree, with the statement: "If he decides to run, I prefer that
Donald Trump be reelected as President in 2024 over any other Republican or
Democrat candidate who might run against him."
The sponsors of
these annual surveys of the North Country communities are Jefferson
Community College, the Northern New York Community Foundation, the
Development Authority of the North Country, and the Lewis County Board of
Legislature who all provide financial support to assist in the funding of
these projects.
The entire final
report of study findings, including the detailed statistical analysis and
summary of results, will be made available on the CCS section of the
College website, www.sunyjefferson.edu/ccs.
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