An analysis of voter opinion on the merits of principal arguments for increasing the operating tax levy for Jefferson College

The purposes of this study were: (1) to assess the extent of agreement by a sample of Jefferson County voters with ten principal arguments for increasing the operating tax levy for Jefferson College; (2) to ascertain differences in the extent of agreement with these arguments by voters classified by gender, age, income and county region; and (3) to interpret the findings for their utility to College officials in developing campaign strategies related to a voter referendum. In a telephone interview utilizing the Structured Interview Protocol (SIP), developed for this study by the researcher, a random sample of 301 Jefferson County voters were asked to respond to ten principal arguments in terms of their persuasiveness for increasing the operating tax levy for Jefferson College. The extent of voter agreement with each argument was assessed using a five alternative Likert-type response scale. Additionally, voter gender, age, income and county region of residence were elicited as classificatory information. The data generated through the SIP were statistically analyzed using cross-tabulation procedures for frequencies and percentages and t-test and F-tests to determine the significance of the differences in the extent of agreement for each principal argument within classification of voters. This study found that the voters sampled were in substantial agreement that none of the principal arguments was a persuasive reason to support an increase in the operating tax levy for Jefferson College. Furthermore, analysis of the relationship between voter classification by gender, age, income and county region of residence and extent of voter agreement with the ten arguments produced no significant results. It is noteworthy that about one-third to one-fifth of the voters responded "undecided" about the persuasiveness of nine of the ten arguments. It was concluded that a publicity/educational campaign to influence voters to support a referendum to increase Jefferson College's tax levy is imperative to its success and should appeal to the general populace and not specific audiences in Jefferson County. Further, the large number of "undecided" voters should be seen as having the balance of power in the tax levy referendum.