Group: Illinois Voters Ready for Reform; Healthcare Tops List

Citizen Action/Illinois, the state’s largest public interest group, released a new statewide telephone survey of Illinois voters which was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. between February 28 and March 1, 2007. The survey was designed to measure Illinois voters’ mood, their priorities, and their attitudes on a range of public policy issues that recently have gained attention in Illinois.

"We are releasing this poll at the height of the Illinois state legislative session to highlight the voters’ attitudes on the key decisions that are facing Illinois lawmakers in 2007. These decisions will affect a diverse range of important public interest issues, from how we can afford quality health care and education to opening up Illinois’ cable television market to competition and lower prices," said William McNary, co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois.

Key findings of the poll which surveyed 617 registered voters in Illinois include:

• One of Illinois voters’ top concerns is health care — they feel that its cost and lack of adequate coverage for a growing number of Illinois families are serious problems in the state, with 30% of the voters saying that a family member has put off some sort of medical treatment because of cost. — Education funding also ranks at the top of the voters’ issue agenda — particularly funding of K-12 schools in the state. More than any other issue, voters cite education and school funding as top priorities that they would like state government to address.
• Voters support introducing competition into the cable television marketplace, as a way to drive down costs. Fully 70% of Illinois voters support statewide video franchise legislation. Cable companies receive significantly lower marks for customer satisfaction than electric companies, despite concerns among Illinois voters about rising electric rates and recent service outages across much of the state. Just one-third (34 percent) of Illinoisans are satisfied with their cable service, compared to 61 percent for electric companies and 59 percent for gas companies.
  In 2007 the Illinois State Legislature will be casting votes on major initiatives to fund health care and education, to protect consumers from high utility and cable rates, as well as other consumer protections such as predatory lending reform.

"2007 presents a historic opportunity for the Illinois legislature to cast a number of key votes on issues that will have long lasting financial and health effects on the well-being of Illinois residents," McNary added. "This poll clearly shows that Illinois voters are ready for landmark reforms that put the interest of Illinois families first."

Other key findings from the poll include: — Nearly four in five voters (79%) had high levels of concern about the war in Iraq. — Seven in ten voters (69%) think that the state budget deficit is an extremely or quite serious problem. More than half express the same level of concern about Illinois’ under funded pension system (55%), but there is little support for addressing this problem by cutting pensions and health care for future retirees. — More than half (52%) of the voters acknowledge that the increasing consumer debt through the use of payday and auto title loans is an extremely or quite serious problem in Illinois, and fully 77% of the voters favor strengthening the Illinois law that protects consumers from predatory payday loan type products. — Voters are so concerned about education that across a majority of all demographic subgroups, two-thirds of the Illinois electorate favors a tax swap proposal to increase state support of K-12 schools and state colleges by increasing the state income tax while reducing the property tax burden for homeowners. Citizen Action/Illinois is Illinois’ largest statewide public interest organization committed to protecting consumers. Full copies of the report are available at http://www.citizenaction-il.org/