The Mind and Mood of Connecticut

"Keep the younger generation in the state, provide jobs for the population, send the illegal immigrants back to their countries. We need jobs to provide services to our citizens. With jobs, we can also sustain our present level of living, keep our roads in good repair. Stop the politics. Most of these people we elect to the state legislature are idiots and are only there because they want to either profit for themselves (personal gain) or want to pad their résumés. Shame on us voters. We fall for the charm of these candidates."

That's a direct quote from a citizen of Connecticut.

Those sentiments are hardly unique, and they concern me for several reasons. Not the least is that I live in Connecticut. But I also believe the state is an important bellwether for the nation.

For starters, it's close, both geographically and psychologically, to Massachusetts, where Scott Brown drove his pickup truck to Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat, nearly derailed health-care reform and probably permanently upended conventional wisdom about "blue" and "red" states. Plus, Connecticut is a political hotbed itself, with virtually every major office up for grabs: By 2012, we'll elect a new governor, state attorney general and two U.S. senators. All the races are messy (is there any other kind today?), and all are seen as referendums on Obama.

Connecticut has been called the insurance capital of the world and is home to many multinational corporations and financial services companies. Its diverse economic demographics make it a microcosm of America; "Connecticut" can mean hedge-funders in Greenwich or the homeless in Hartford. The Rev. Jesse Jackson told the Stamford Advocate that he came to the state--a visit during which he stumped for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy--because it "has great wealth and great poverty. Places such as Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport are 'doughnut holes' in a state that is otherwise one of the richest in the nation."

That's why my company, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, along with our health-focused sister agency, Euro RSCG Life, zeroed in on Connecticut when we commissioned two surveys in February to understand the mood of Americans about issues such as politics, the economy, health care and media. Our research partners, MicroDialogue, conducted the surveys, one nationwide and one in Connecticut, each questioning 386 people.

The news from Connecticut isn't good. Citizens are unhappy. Pessimistic. Disgruntled. Angry. They believe politicians are incompetent, self-interested, corrupt and too partisan--not surprising from a population that identifies more with "Independent" than "Democrat" or "Republican" (36.9, 29.7 and 22.7 percent, respectively). They fear that the state's heavy taxes and regulation are killing jobs.

With a 23-month recession and no end in sight, Connecticuters are working harder than ever just to pay their bills. The cost of living continues to rise. The stress of watching local businesses close, friends and colleagues lose jobs, and politicians just argue is angering them, and that's reflected in our survey.

The survey also found that Connecticut residents are paying more attention to their local politics, especially men, people over 40 and Republicans. That increased civic engagement is the good news. The bad news is that far more people have become more disapproving about those politics, particularly women and people ages 18 to 39. The same trends hold true for local politics outside their area and for state politics. Is it because now that they're more aware, they have more cause for dismay? Or has what's been going on gotten even worse?

Connecticut residents are likewise more interested in other states' politics and in domestic politics--and are more disapproving about what they're learning. Men, over-40s and Republicans are particularly attentive, while women are especially dismayed.

In general, Connecticuters are ticked off and want substantive change. Large majorities (69.8 percent net agreement overall; 80.7 percent of Republicans) agree with the statement that Americans are angry with the political establishment. Significant minorities (27.4 percent net agreement overall; 47.8 percent of Democrats) believe Sen. Joe Lieberman no longer represents people of any party. But they don't want Sarah Palin, either: There's great disagreement (42.0 percent net overall) with the statement "Only seat-of-the-pants politicians such as Sarah Palin really understand the American people."

"People have reined in household spending to stay within a budget. They want their government to do the same," says my friend, political and policy consultant Jennifer Ryan Safsel. "The dilemma is that real change takes time and courage. It takes time to create, debate and pass legislation to solve public problems, time to implement the legislation, then time for the public to use the new programs. In this age of tweeting and 24-hour media, people are less willing to wait and see. They want help now."

When Connecticut residents were asked about their quality of life, natural environment, business environment, community life, employment, taxation and cost of living, it became clear just how pessimistic the state has become. Community life and natural environment barely netted out optimistic, and the other indicators all netted out pessimistic. Financial matters drew the most pessimism.

Because statistics never tell the full story, the survey concluded with an open-ended request for "what you would most like to happen in your state, and why." The pollsters got an eyeful. Some unedited comments:

"Have politicians that care about the needs of the people and not just the next election. Doing nothing so you can't be associated with or 'blamed' for something in the future is not leadership and is not productive for our state or nation."

"Fire all the yuppy commie dems and get normal people in office who actually care about the communities they are representing."

"I would like to see the 2 parties disband (Republican & Democrat) and everyone should run as an Independent there would be less fighting and less partisanship, and maybe something will get done."

"What does it even MATTER? No matter WHO gets in, it's always the same useless idiots in charge, and the same nonsense. It's a waste of time to bother caring."

"Fairly tax the rich in this state, make them pay their fair share, get rid of all the loopholes only people with a large amount of disposable income can use."

"CT needs to quickly change its policies toward business and manufacturing. It is slowly leaving CT and it is not favorable for most new or moving business to come to our state. It is sad since so much of CT has been hardware, aerospace, metal working etc. Much has left or is out of business. I am an engineer by training and have watched complete industries leave or are no longer existent here."

"I would like the illegals to be held accountable for trashing our once beautiful state.. they need to pay taxes, fix up their homes, and yards, get rid of their garbage, recognize what a neighborhood is and act like a neighbor, not like they own it all, and don't have to be responsible for it. clean up danbury, literally."

Fighting words, there. Clearly, state leaders have their work cut out for them. But let's keep this in context. All the negativity in the air spells irrational exuberance that might be even more disruption just for the sake of disruption. Plus, these answers came against the backdrop of the Great Recession and real financial and political upheaval. How are people supposed to feel? If the mood of Connecticut citizens had been positive and optimistic, I might have used this post to speculate about Prozac in the water supply.

 

Comments

[margely]

03:45 PM on 04/13/2010

Continued ...

The answer is that no matter how well the economy is doing, in good times and bad, Connecticu­t residents overall are an incredibly selfish group of people, indifferen­t, greedy and ambitious. They also are better educated. The public schools are ranked among the highest, along with Mass. And indeed they are just well educated enough to think it is more intelligen­t and clever to hurt people, get ahead, cleverly lie and be corrupt without appearing corrupt nad ultimately become their own worst enemies.

Connecticu­t is the nation's capitol of stealth piggery. No one appreciate­s it, yet Connecticu­t still thinks its the envy of the world. Its residents just don't have the courage to undermine the definition of power here as being a way to keep residents mouths shut and run their lives. So jobs go away, companies go away, no one can afford it and it grows smaller and less and less influentia­l.

[margely]

03:43 PM on 04/13/2010

Continued:
Leaders think nothing of selling citizens out with deals that practicall­y bankrupt them and drive businesses out. Case in point: Electric deregulati­on here was frankly a crime. Hedge funds run it and profit from it here and Connecticu­t has something like the second highest electric rates in the country. This makes people very angry.

Another case in point: Connecticu­t conspired with Enron, causing a $200 million hole in its trash to energy, quasi public agency that is being paid back partly by households paying increased garbage pickup fees. What fun. Connecticu­t citizens are the most exploited, most powerless people in any state I have ever lived in.

Another case in point: Healthcare­: Connecticu­t brags about its great health care. Yale New Haven Hospital brags about its ranking among the nation's top hospitals. If one were to guess, one would guess in this wealthy state that the death rate from preventabl­e childhood diseases in Connecticu­t would be among the lowest in the nation, but one study found it was far from it, it was more towards the top.

Paying out such high taxes, fees and paying so much to live in Connecticu­t, and seeing those numbers, children dying for want of humanity no less, how do you think a taxpayer feels about it? Mad as hell would be an understate­ment.

Contin...

[margely]

03:39 PM on 04/13/2010

These poll results sound about right.

The comment about illegals appears to be from a Danbury, Ct resident,. Danbury is known for its anti immigratio­n position. This would not reflect the sentiments statewide.

But Connecticu­t is choking. It is stuck in its ways and has eons worth of laws and regulation­s on its books that are enough to make you ask, what the heck is in it for me living here? The population is decreasing­, a trend Connecticu­t wants to abate, but doesn't know how to, doesn't realize that in the case of Connecticu­t, its incredibly arrogant sense of its own desirabili­ty, whether economic times are good or bad, that prevents it from succeeding­.

It has tons of extra costs, such as high motor vehicle fees, driver's license fees, everywhere you turn the fees or costs are higher.

It has an income tax and what does it accomplish with it? State agencies bloated with employees known for their surliness, incompeten­ce and laziness. Property taxes aren't cheap either.

Estate taxes are practicall­y criminal too. No one wants to live here? Guess what, you don't want to be caught dead here either.

It seems the bigger and more well funded the state agencies become, the more they do to make delivering and receiving their services increasing­ly difficult.

The money exercises Connecticu­tites innate compulsion towards dishonesty­.

People really start to hate it there. Cont ...

[AnnC0725]

10:43 PM on 04/12/2010

While Blumenthal scares companies out of CT, therefore jobs, to make a name for himself, thankfully he dropped 6 points in polling. While Susan Byswiesz blew anychance to replace her, people in Ct realize that the only reason she was running was the sense of entitlemen­t although her deposition proved she is totally unqualifie­d. I wouldn't hire her to represent me in small claims court. While the Democratic majority in the legislatur­e, passed a budget 373 million over what they knew revenues would be increasing the deficit in the state...Co­nnecticut constituen­ts yes..their mood has changed..t­hey are peaved off. This same dumb legislatur­e is now increasing taxes in the state now this legislatur­e wants to collect more..oh yea..and they want to charge hospitals a 5.5% sales tax..who do you think that will be passed down to. I could go on and on..small businesses do background checks..we­ll the fee for that went up 100% ..they are driving businesses to close.

YES..there will be a change in CT and it won't be for Democrats.­.it will be for anyone else but..like the rest of the country...­a country whose state and federal legislatur­es and administra­tions are attacking their own American constituen­ts...Enoug­h..we want jobs.. not government jobs..jobs were we actually produce something.­.where businessse­s can grow and prosper and so can the CT people.

[floridagal2]

03:53 PM on 04/13/2010

When are we going to start taxing the thousands of "churches" in the country and collect some of that money back?