Of 829 likely voters statewide, 50 percent said the single best thing to do in fighting crime is to add police officers.

By comparison, 27 percent favored building more prisons, while 23 percent weren't sure about either choice.

Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md., conducted the telephone poll.

"I'm not surprised by the public's perception that to better fight crime you need more police personnel, because the public might not fully understand the system," said Big Island Deputy Police Chief James Correa.

"Even if you have more police arresting more criminals, what are you going to do with them if there's no prison space?" he said. "We need both."

Maui Deputy Chief Tom Phillips said criminals need to serve their sentences.

"Without truth in sentencing, a guy who is sentenced to 20 years likely won't do 20 years," he said. "So we need more prison space, and from a police perspective, we could always use more officers."

Honolulu Police Chief Michael Nakamura, who supports the call for more prison space, does not agree with the poll question.

"There's no one answer to fight crime, but many contributing factors," Nakamura said. "You need strong community and economic foundations, politicians and a consistent criminal justice system.

"All of them are important, and you can't single out one," he said.

According to a poll analysis, one of every three people on the neighbor islands who had an opinion favored more police. On Oahu, 47 percent wanted more police and 29 percent more prison space.

Several other issues were presented to voters by the pollsters between Oct. 24 and 28.

The results represent a snapshot of public opinion at the time the poll was taken, and the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Fifty-one percent consider their political philosophies to be moderate, while 28 percent say they are conservative and 20 percent say they are liberal.

That could be a factor in the Honolulu prosecutor's race, where Peter Carlisle, running on his felony prosecution record as a deputy during the Charles Marsland tenure, appeals to conservatives.

Liberal support leans toward his opponent, David Arakawa, whose campaign is based on the ability to work with others.

Among moderates, Arakawa appears to have a slight edge. Many of the undecided voters could be part of this group.

Also, 59 percent of those polled say they don't care if Hawaii is overwhelmingly Democratic.

Hawaii is expected to be solidly for President Clinton, but some local incumbents may not get the benefit of a straight party vote from Democrats.

Republican Orson Swindle, for example, is mounting a strong challenge to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie in the 1st Congressional District (urban Honolulu).

Sixty-eight percent of those polled did not feel that a candidate's military record was an important factor. Swindle is a former Vietnam prisoner of war, while Abercrombie did not serve in the military and opposed the Vietnam War.

Voters also consider stands on issues (43 percent) and integrity (40 percent) as the most important factors in judging a candidate, poll results show.

The sampling favored elected officials serving out their entire terms by 54 percent to 36 percent.

A light-rail transit system had only lukewarm support, as 58 percent chose looking for alternative ways to reduce traffic, such as adding more buses, as a better way to go.

Support for the alternative traffic choice was 60.4 percent on Oahu and 50.9 percent on the neighbor islands. The rail-transit vote was split equally at 24.2 percent.

Sixty-one percent of poll respondents felt that hotels should be allowed to rebuild at the same density to conform to the Waikiki Special District Plan, while 18 percent favored allowing hotels to rebuild at a higher density as long as they don't add more rooms.