Economy is
voters’ top concern

Poll shows 35 percent blame
former governor Waihee for
Hawaii's poor economy

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's economic good times are an 8-year-old memory, but Hawaii's voters haven't forgotten.

A new poll commissioned for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KHNL-TV shows that improving the economy is their top concern.

Slightly more than half of those surveyed list the economy and jobs as the single most important issue in determining how they will vote.

Issues such as taxes, crime, housing and the environment are of little concern compared to improving the state's economy or securing more jobs.

The only issue that comes close in relative importance this year is a candidate's honesty and integrity. Slightly more than 20 percent of the voters will be guided in the voting booth by a candidate's honesty.

When asked who is more likely to make the changes needed to improve Hawaii's economy, voters said it is the Republicans.

Forty-six percent of those surveyed look to the Republicans to improve the economy. Democrats get the nod from 32 percent of the voters.

Republicans surveyed have an overwhelming faith in their own party to change the economy, as 81 percent think the GOP can fix the economy. Democrats are a bit more divided, although still partisan, with 52 percent saying Democrats can handle the job.

Men think the GOP can do a better job than the Democrats by 2-to-1, but women are divided evenly between the two parties.

The poll was conducted among 425 registered voters statewide by telephone Oct. 16-19 by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

When asked specifically who has presented the best vision of how to boost the state's economy, the Republican candidate for governor, Maui Mayor Linda Lingle was prefered 2-to-1 over Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano.

The figures have changed little, with voters saying the same when last surveyed in August.

Lingle has even joked about the issue, saying she has the best possible opponent, someone who says the the economy is not the issue in this year's election.

Cayetano, however, devoted much time early this year to moving the economy with his Economic Revitalization Task Force. However, its call for raising the excise tax to cut income taxes proved so unpopular that Cayetano has been forced to say he would never again suggest an excise tax increase. He was able, however, to push an income tax reduction through the last session of the state Legislature.

Rick Humphries, a spokesman for the Cayetano campaign, said because voters are looking for change, they are turning to the GOP in an expectation of a better economy.

"In the last legislative session there was lots of change, but it was by Democrats. People who want change and think it will come from the Republicans don't understand the reality of how politics works," he said.

Finally, when asked who is most responsible for Hawaii's economic plight, former Gov. John Waihee gets most of the blame, with 35 percent of those responding saying he bears the responsibility for it.

In the campaign for governor this year, Cayetano has said the budget cuts he has been forced to make were the result of Waihee's administration spending too much money and saving more.

Voters, however, aren't letting Cayetano completely off the hook, as 29 percent say the poor economy is his fault.

The Legislature comes in for the blame 21 percent of the time.