FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:                Malcolm P. Ehrhardt                   

                            504-558-1765, Malcolm@theehrhardtgroup.com

Voters See Mayor's Election as Pivotal for New Orleans' Future,

But Feel Candidates Are Not Yet Measuring Up

NEW ORLEANS - Jan. 19, 2010 - Opinion leaders and registered voters believe mayoral candidates are not doing enough to explain how they would attack critical issues in New Orleans, according to the results of four focus groups conducted last week by New Orleans-based Focus Group Testing, LLC.

Focus Group Testing conducted four focus groups on Jan. 13 and 14, 2010. Two of the groups included local opinion leaders and two consisted of average voters selected at random. A total of 40 registered voters participated in the four sessions. They were equally divided between the opinion leader and random voter groups.

"This is a monumental election, but we haven't seen detailed management plans. Voters believe that the candidates thus far have given very little detail," said lead researcher Malcolm Ehrhardt, who moderated the group sessions. "For instance, in the voters' minds, no candidate has yet to speak out definitively about whether they would restore a five-day work week for city workers. That's as basic as it gets in city government. Voters think that candidates should be addressing the existing needs and incorporating them into their own platforms."

Ehrhardt said that voters are actively engaged in the political process and see this election as critically important for a recovering city. "We heard terms like ‘milestone,' ‘big time' and ‘transitional' to describe the upcoming election. However, the same voters said that thus far the candidates are not matching the same level of importance with their rhetoric."

"The focus groups create a forum for more qualitative insight into voter perceptions, as opposed to a phone or email survey that takes a snapshot of public reaction on a given day or night. We had the luxury of spending an hour and a half with 40 people, so we could understand the intensity of their concerns," said Ehrhardt.

The focus group project was sponsored and underwritten by Focus Group Testing, without any affiliation to a candidate or organization. The results and final report are available to interested parties, including candidates, business and civic groups and the news media, at www.focusgrouptesting.com, click the "Professional Services" tab in the menu bar to access the full report. Organizers hope the findings will lead to discussions that satisfy the concerns expressed by the focus group participants.

Highlights of the Focus Group Research of Mayoral Issues in the Current Campaign

1. Voters consider February 6 a milestone election. Thus far, they do not believe the rhetoric of the candidates matches the importance voters place on this election.
2. The key issues in the Mayoral Campaign are crime, infrastructure, education, economic development and blight. Registered voters sampled in this process rated crime as the most important local issue, but they frequently cited other issues as being interconnected with the crime issue. For instance, they believe better education and job opportunities will lead to a reduction of crime. They also understand that while the mayor does not have direct control over public education, he or she can influence the structure and direction of future state initiatives and serve as the key influencer for the city.
3. Both opinion leaders and voters want to see candidates present detailed plans regarding key issues. After the initial round of introductory forums and paid advertising, they expect candidates to begin furnishing management game plans and organizational approaches to being mayor. For instance, candidates who mention a reduction in taxes must be willing to explain how the city will operate with less revenue. Likewise, suggesting the need for a new police chief or community policing should include details about how those ideas will be executed.  
4. Participants are surprisingly engaged in the political process for the upcoming election. Nearly half of the total number of participants had attended at least one forum in person and approximately three-quarters had viewed one forum on television or listened to one on the radio. Nearly three-fourths of participants followed the campaign each day in The Times Picayune, nola.com or in a number of neighborhood blogs. Gambit Weekly was also cited as a credible source of information about the campaign.
5. Voters believe that the new mayor and city council members should put aside their political differences in order to move the city forward. There is an expectation by voters that the city should be managed efficiently and policy matters should be resolved without the bickering they have seen during the past four years. Rather than fighting among themselves, many participants said the city's leadership should work to make City Hall more customer friendly. They feel that New Orleans fails in comparison to other cities and parishes with more efficient technology and helpful customer service workers.
6. Voters believe the candidates, organizations and news media need to do a better job of linking the current problems of the city to the campaign and to hold candidates accountable. Not one participant could recall whether candidates were quizzed in any forum or debate about the city's recent difficulty in passing an operating budget. City Hall is now closed on Fridays, and during the budget debate there was discussion of a $40+ million dollar deficit and various ways to reduce services, such as street cleaning, garbage collection and Mardi Gras reviewing stands. Voters feel that candidates should be asked whether they will restore the 5-day work week or maintain the Nagin administration's 4-day schedule.
7. Voters are desperate for information and discussion about other citywide elections, such as the Council-at-Large and Assessor races. They attribute the concentration of media attention on the Mayor's election to the fact that advertising dollars are spent there and the race is "sexier."
8. Voters are especially concerned about the Assessor's race and the implications the new single assessor for Orleans Parish will have on their tax bills. In future forums, they want to learn about individual candidate approaches to the use of technology in the office, customer service, and whether property taxes will be administered evenly.
9. Voters are more concerned about candidate qualifications, ideas, proposals and approaches to managing city government than they are about race. Reacting to a recent quote in the New York Times by a local officeholder that "it's always about race," participants acknowledged that consideration of one's race is human nature, but they were much more concerned about performance during these critically important times.
10. Voters understand the challenges facing the next mayor in prioritizing and addressing critical issues. For that reason, when asked to force rank their priorities in dealing with issues, the majority said that the next mayor must develop an overall management plan and structure - a game plan - to attack multiple issues at the same time.
11. Voters are concerned about the lack of quality health care in the city, but they acknowledge that the mayor has no direct control over this issue. Almost unanimously, they prefer the construction of a modern medical complex to the rehabilitation of Charity Hospital. Participants understand that education and health care are outside the direct purview of a mayor, but they feel strongly that he/she should use the bully pulpit to influence the future structure of both critical issue areas.

The focus groups sessions were organized and conducted by Focus Group Testing, LLC. of New Orleans, an organization that has undertaken qualitative research projects for scores of clients throughout the Gulf South. The company's research efforts have spanned a range of consumer industries as well as public issues and candidates for public office.  Service areas include education, social services, tourism, entertainment, issues management, retail and forest products industries.

Published on January 19, 2010