Both the Nebraska Metro and Rural Polls asked residents how essential or necessary various characteristics are in order for them to have a high quality of life

Burkhart-Kriesel, Cheryl A.

Cantrell, Randolph

Deichert, Jerry

Drozd, David J.

Lubben, Brad

McElravy, LJ

Vogt, Rebecca

English

The University of Nebraska, Omaha

University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Publications since 2000 Center for Public Affairs Research 2014 Nebraska Rural Poll and Metro Poll Research Brief: Attributes of Successful Communities for Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans Rebecca Vogt David J. Drozd Randolph Cantrell Jerry Deichert Brad Lubben See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cparpublications  Part of the Public Affairs Commons Authors Rebecca Vogt, David J. Drozd, Randolph Cantrell, Jerry Deichert, Brad Lubben, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, and LJ McElravy Nebraska Rural Poll and Metro Poll Research Brief  Attributes of Successful Communities for Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans Table 1. Aspects of Community that were Deemed "Absolutely Essential" for Community Success: 2014 Metro and Rural Polls    Question wording: "How essential or necessary are the following characteristics in order for you to have a high quality of life?" Notes: Values are in percentages. Items sorted by the difference between the two polls.  Differences of 10 percentage points or more are highlighted.     Specific Aspect of Community Metro Poll Rural Poll Difference Adequate information technology 42 31 11 Recreational opportunities 37 26 11 Available college classes 35 25 10 Quality housing 71 62 9 Well-maintained infrastructure 66 57 9 Jobs/economic opportunities 84 77 7 Available public transportation 27 20 7 Affordable housing 71 65 6 Cultural opportunities 25 19 6 A local newspaper willing to report controversial items 35 30 5 Low cost of living 48 44 4 Being close to relatives/in-laws 26 22 4 Sense of personal safety 83 79 4 A clean and attractive natural environment 51 49 2 A willingness to tax and/or raise financial resources locally 22 20 2 Effective community leadership 56 54 2 Available medical services 72 71 1 Lack of congestion 31 31 0 Leadership opportunities 25 25 0 Friendly people 46 46 0 Available senior citizen programs 28 29 1 A quality school system (K-12) 74 77 3 Available child care services 31 35 4 Acceptance of newcomers 37 41 4 A sense of community among residents 37 42 5 Strong church/religious community 38 50 12 Essential Community Characteristics Both the Nebraska Metro and Rural Polls asked residents how         essential or necessary various characteristics are in order for them to have a high quality of life.   A sense of personal safety, jobs/economic opportunities, a    quality school system (K—12), quality housing, available medical services, affordable housing, well-maintained infrastructure, and effective community leadership were the characteristics that were rated as absolutely essential by a majority of both          metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residents. For most of the characteristics listed, the differences between the results of the two polls were small (Table 1).  Residents of metropolitan counties are more likely to view         adequate information technology, recreational opportunities and available college classes as being absolutely essential in a        community compared to residents of nonmetropolitan counties (pink cells in Table 1).   Residents of nonmetropolitan counties are more likely than      residents of metropolitan counties to view a strong church/religious community as being absolutely essential (green cell in Table 1).  Available Community Characteristics Both polls asked residents to what extent the same list of                characteristics describes their current community.  For many of the characteristics listed, there are only small      differences between the two polls when comparing the              proportions that rated each as being present to a great extent. Some of the characteristics rated similarly between the two polls include: low cost of living, friendly people, leadership               opportunities, a local newspaper willing to report controversial items and effective community leadership (Table 2).   Residents of metropolitan counties are more likely than residents of nonmetropolitan counties to say the following characteristics are present to a great extent in their current community:      available college classes, available medical services, quality housing, recreational opportunities, affordable housing, jobs/economic opportunities, cultural opportunities, adequate  Table 2. Aspects of Community that were Currently Present to "A Great Extent":  2014 Metro and Rural Polls    Question wording: "To what extent do the following characteristics describe your current community?" Notes: Values are in percentages. Items sorted by the difference between the two polls. Differences of 10 percentage points or more are highlighted.    Specific Aspect of Community Metro Poll Rural Poll Difference Available college classes 48 23 25 Available medical services 55 38 17 Quality housing 30 13 17 Recreational opportunities 28 13 15 Affordable housing 29 15 14 Jobs/economic opportunities 24 11 13 Cultural opportunities 21 9 12 Adequate information technology 25 14 11 Available public transportation 17 7 10 A willingness to tax and/or raise financial resources locally 21 16 5 Available child care services 22 17 5 Being close to relatives/in-laws 37 35 2 Acceptance of newcomers 21 19 2 Low cost of living 17 16 1 Friendly people 38 37 1 Leadership opportunities 14 14 0 A local newspaper willing to report controversial items 18 18 0 Effective community leadership 15 16 1 A clean and attractive natural environment 30 33 3 Available senior citizen programs 17 21 4 A quality school system (K-12) 40 44 4 Well-maintained infrastructure  15 19 4 A sense of community among residents 25 30 5 Strong church/religious community 35 44 9 Sense of personal safety 36 46 10 Lack of congestion 24 49 25 information technology and available public transportation (pink cells in Table 2).   Residents of nonmetropolitan counties are more likely than     residents of metropolitan counties to say a sense of personal safety and lack of congestion are present to ta great extent in their current community (green cells in Table 2).  Gaps Between What is Desired and What is Present in Community Table 3 highlights the differences between the proportions of     respondents to both polls who believe the characteristics are      absolutely essential for them to have a high quality of life and those that describe their current community to a great extent.  Positive gaps indicate a higher proportion of people believe the item is    absolutely essential than believe it is present in their current      community to a great extent. Thus, more of that service or amenity is needed in the community. Negative gaps indicate that a higher proportion of people believe the item is present to a great extent in their current community than believe that it is absolutely essential. In other words, people believe the availability of those                characteristics is sufficient.  For a number of the characteristics with positive gaps for both polls, residents of metropolitan counties have smaller gaps than do residents of nonmetropolitan counties (pink cells in Table 3). One example is available medical services. While similar        proportions of both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan         residents believe available medical services are essential, a  larger proportion of metropolitan residents believe they exist to a great extent. Thus, this is an area that may need more    attention in nonmetropolitan counties.   For some characteristics, residents of nonmetropolitan counties have smaller gaps as compared to residents of metropolitan counties. A couple examples include well-maintained             infrastructure and sense of personal safety (green cells in Table 3). These represent potential areas of improvement for         metropolitan areas.   Many characteristics listed have small or no differences in the gaps when comparing the results of the two polls. While some of the items in that category have large positive gaps for both polls (effective community leadership, a quality school system and low cost of living), these gaps are similar between           metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. These represent opportunities for improvement across the state, regardless of  Table 3. Gap between Aspects of Community that are "Absolutely Essential" for the Community to be Successful and What was  Currently Present to "A Great Extent": 2014 Metro and Rural Polls Question 1 wording: "How essential or necessary are the following characteristics in order for you to have a high quality of life?" Question 2 wording: "To what extent do the following characteristics describe your current community?" Notes: Values are in percentages. Differences of 5 percentage points or more are highlighted.     Metro Poll Rural Poll Difference in the Gap between the Polls Specific Aspect of Community "Absolutely Essential" Exists to "A great extent" Gap "Absolutely Essential" Exists to "A great extent" Gap Larger Positive Gaps:        Available medical services 72 55 17 71 38 33 16 Sense of personal safety 83 36 47 79 46 33 14 Well-maintained infrastructure  66 15 51 57 19 38 13 Available child care services 31 22 9 35 17 18 9 Quality housing 71 30 41 62 13 49 8 Affordable housing 71 29 42 65 15 50 8 Cultural opportunities 25 21 4 19 9 10 6 Acceptance of newcomers 37 21 16 41 19 22 6 Jobs/economic opportunities 84 24 60 77 11 66 6 A clean and attractive natural environment 51 30 21 49 33 16 5 A local newspaper willing to report controversial items 35 18 17 30 18 12 5 Recreational opportunities 37 28 9 26 13 13 4 Small or No Differences in Gaps:        A willingness to tax and/or raise financial resources locally 22 21 1 20 16 4 3 Strong church/religious community 38 35 3 50 44 6 3 Available public transportation 27 17 10 20 7 13 3 Available senior citizen programs 28 17 11 29 21 8 3 Effective community leadership 56 15 41 54 16 38 3 Low cost of living 48 17 31 44 16 28 3 Being close to relatives/in-laws 26 37 -11 22 35 -13 2 Friendly people 46 38 8 46 37 9 1 A quality school system (K-12) 74 40 34 77 44 33 1 Leadership opportunities 25 14 11 25 14 11 0 A sense of community among residents 37 25 12 42 30 12 0 Adequate information technology 42 25 17 31 14 17 0 Positive and Negative Gaps:        Lack of congestion 31 24 7 31 49 -18 25 Available college classes 35 48 -13 25 23 2 15 the type of county a person  resides in, to better attract and   retain population.  Two items have one positive and one negative gap. When looking at lack of congestion, the negative gap for the Rural Poll indicates nonmetropolitan residents believe that lack of         congestion is sufficient in their communities. However, a     positive gap exists for the    Metro Poll which indicates more is desired (yellow cells in Table 3). The opposite is true for available college classes. A  negative gap for the Metro Poll indicates sufficient availability there but a small positive gap for the Rural Poll shows that the availability of college classes is about what people believe is essential in nonmetropolitan areas (blue cells in Table 3).      Implications Communities across the state (regardless of where they are located) should work to        improve the following areas in order to better attract and   retain population: jobs/        economic opportunities,     housing, infrastructure, safety, community leadership, cost of living, and their school system. These are areas that high     proportions of residents view as essential, but fewer believe they are available to a great extent in their current community. For many of these items, the gaps are large for both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. However, infrastructure and Authors: Rebecca Vogt, UNL David Drozd, UNO Randolph Cantrell, UNL Jerry Deichert, UNO Brad Lubben, UNL Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, UNL L.J. McElravy, UNL safety are two areas that have bigger gaps in metropolitan areas. Thus, communities in metropolitan areas need to strengthen these two areas to better market themselves to potential new residents. While it is fairly intuitive that sense of personal safety would be rated higher in nonmetropolitan areas, it is surprising to see infrastructure categorized as more lacking in metropolitan areas, given that sufficient funding for this item can be more challenging for smaller, rural communities. Housing and jobs/economic opportunities, however, are perceived to be bigger challenges in nonmetropolitan areas.    Communities in metropolitan areas can market their medical services to potential new residents. This is an item that most residents rated as absolutely essential for them and many residents in metropolitan residents also said it was available to a great extent in their current community. And, this is an area that communities in nonmetropolitan areas need to improve to better attract new residents.  Methodology:   The Nebraska Rural Poll sampled residents from non-metropolitan counties and regional trade centers in the state.  The Nebraska Metro Poll sampled the seven counties that comprise the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas.  Both polls sent 4 mailings regarding or containing the surveys in the spring of 2014 and had an online response option.  

Nebraska Rural Poll and Metro Poll Research Brief: Attributes of Successful Communities for Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans

https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1440&context=cparpublications

Nebraska Rural Poll and Metro Poll Research Brief: Attributes of Successful Communities for Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans

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