Citizen survery results delivered

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Several weeks ago I presented to you in this column a number of issues to be considered by the Legislature in the 2001 Regular Legislative Session, and I asked for your opinion on these topics.

Today I want to give you the results of that survey.

First of all, I want to thank those of you who took the time to answer these questions.

Email newsletter signup

I received over 100 written responses to the opinion survey, and in addition I had at least that many of you speak to me personally about your views on some or all of these topics.

I was pleased to know that so many of you take the time to read my column.

1.

What is your view of rewriting Alabama's Constitution?

(a)

Support – 71% (b) Oppose – 6% (c) Undecided – 23%

If you support rewriting the Constitution, which method to you prefer? (a) the Legislature doing it article by article – 48% (b) a constitutional convention – 23% (c) Undecided – 29%

2.

What is your view of a graduated driver license for teenage drivers? (a) Support – 38% (b) Oppose – 29% (c) Undecided – 33%

3.

Should the Legislature increase funding educators' health insurance and give teachers a 2% raise? (a) Support – 41% (b) Oppose – 28% (c) Undecided – 31%

4.

Should the state build another prison to relieve the backlog of state inmates in county jails or should the Legislature wait for the report of the State Sentencing Commission studying this problem? (a) build a prison – 40% (b) wait for the sentencing commissions report – 43% (c) Undecided – 17%

5. Should Alabama change its form of execution to lethal injection? (a) Yes – 86% (b) No – 6% (c) Undecided – 8%

6.

Do you favor requiring voters to show identification at the polls? (a) Yes – 78% (b) No – 9% (c) Undecided – 13%

7.

What is your view of having a two year moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Alabama? (a) Support – 7% (b) Oppose – 85% (c) Undecided – 8%

8.

What is your view of mandatory automobile liability insurance? (a) Support – 83% (b) Oppose – 7% (c) Undecided – 10%

9.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), what is your view of how well the Governor is performing in his office?

Average on the scale was 5.2.

10.

Do you think judicial positions in Alabama for the Supreme Court and the other appellate courts should be filled by holding non-partisan elections as opposed to running by party (Democrat or Republican)? (a) Yes. I favor non-partisan elections for Judges – 57% (b) No. I think they should still run on a party ticket – 31% (c) Undecided – 12%

Space constraints will not allow me to make some personal comments and observations about the above results, but I plan to do that in next week's column.

In the meantime, please know that "I'll go with you or I'll go for you" to help you solve any problem related to state government.