Survey: Character counts for governor

Voters reported strongly valuing a governor's honesty and trustworthiness.
By KANTELE FRANKO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ohio voters tend to find aspects of character more important than political experience when discussing their views of an ideal governor, according to a political survey conducted by students at Ohio University.
In late October and early November, students in professor Jerry Miller's political communication class created and conducted a phone survey of 566 randomly selected Ohioans of voting age, asking about topics such as taxes, capital punishment, education and smoking bans.
A large section of the survey focused on voters' views of the ideal governor and the importance of qualities the governor might possess. "Looking at the ideal governor characteristics, the lead factors deal with character issues," said Miller, who directs the university's political communication certificate program.
Honesty was a priority, with 87 percent of respondents ranking it as very important, according to survey results. Respondents also frequently ranked trustworthiness and integrity as very important, at 85 percent and 83 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, less than 30 percent of respondents ranked the qualities of political experience, aggressiveness and success as very important.
In light of recent legal actions involving Gov. Bob Taft's administration, the results show "a general skepticism and concern over what we hear and read" about politicians in the media, Miller said.
General topics
Students also questioned voters about the importance of more than 20 general topics, ranging from terrorism and abortion to the environment and economy. Kindergarten-through-12th-grade education was most frequently ranked very important at 67 percent, followed closely by health care and the price of gasoline.
The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, might have been more complete if it included detailed questions about education or questions concerning reactions to Gov. Taft's administration, Miller said. But such a move also would lengthen the survey, which took about 15 minutes.
Future students likely will change some of the survey content to reflect specific political events, such as gubernatorial and congressional races and debates, said Miller, who added that he hopes to conduct the survey annually.