While Southern California residents have some degree of confidence in their local government, they have less confidence in local government's ability to solve problems that most affect them personally, according to a 2005 survey sponsored by the UCLA Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

Los Angeles residents surveyed were more likely to give their local officials an "inadequate" rating than those in other counties, according to co-author Paul Ong. Ong, director of the Lewis Center, is also a professor of urban planning and social welfare at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Survey results showed that Inland Empire residents were most satisfied with local government, with the smallest number of "inadequate" ratings and the highest percentage of "adequate" ratings, although not by much. In addition, the survey found that whites and Latinos have more confidence in local government than other ethnic groups.

The Southern California Survey, developed by the Lewis Center with input from campus and community organizations, was conducted to gather information on the views and opinions of residents on critical policy issues in the region. The 2005 survey gathered basic demographic data and covered seven topical areas. In addition to Los Angeles, residents from the surrounding counties of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura were surveyed.

"The overall picture here is that the majority of respondents, regardless of demographic group, came out with a middle-range response score to the questions about government performance, indicating that most residents lack strong opinions one way or the other," Ong said.

Stronger opinions were reported on other issues in the Southern California Survey, which included questions on terrorism, traffic, housing and disasters such as earthquakes.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish by the Social Science Research Center at California State University, Fullerton.

Co-authors of the survey results reports are Kim Haselhoff, a post-doctoral fellow at the Lewis Center, and Lucy Tran, an undergraduate student in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

More information on the Southern California Survey may be found at the Lewis Center Web site at http://lewisctr@spa.ucla.edu.