Phoenix voters' views change on BOB financing
Phoenix Business Journal - by Angela Gonzales
Now that the Arizona Diamondbacks have won the World Series, Phoenix voters believe that the expenditure of public money to build Bank One Ballpark was a good idea.
These findings were in response to a recent O'Neil Associates Valley Monitor question: "In view of the Diamondbacks' success, do you consider the public money spent on Bank One Ballpark to have been a good idea or not a good idea?"
Fifty-five percent now indicate they believe it was a good idea. A little more than one in three still think it was a bad idea and the remaining 10 percent are unsure.
Michael O'Neil, director of the poll, said these figures represent an extraordinary turnaround in public sentiment, considering that Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was shot in the buttocks as a result of her vote in favor of using taxpayers' money to finance the construction of the baseball stadium.
"For the past five years, nearly every public opinion poll on the subject has clearly demonstrated massive public resentment over public expenditures for Bank One Ballpark," O'Neil said. "In light of such consistent and vehement findings, these results are extraordinary. They demonstrate a radical turnabout in public sentiment. No doubt the euphoria is associated with a World Series victor and Arizona's first championship in any major sport."
O'Neil said he's not sure how long the sentiment will live.
"But the degree of turnaround represented by such findings is nothing short of breathtaking," he said.
He said the highest level of support was found among Republicans, who tend to be more fiscally conservative. Now, 58 percent of this group said they felt the public expenditures for BOB was a good idea.
This contrasts with 53 percent among Democrats and 49 percent among other voters.
agonzales@bizjournals.com
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