Survey: Region's residents engaged, but wary of government

The majority of Hampton Roads residents have been active in their communities in the past year and are committed to civic life, according to a survey by the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement.

But residents are skeptical about their local institutions, like their elected representatives and the news media, and don’t believe their municipal governments invite input from citizens, according to a summary of the results, which were released Saturday.

The survey was part of a project, dubbed “A Regional Civic Capital Assessment,” that attempted to measure whether Hampton Roads has ‘civic capital’—the values, skills, and infrastructure needed in order for residents to work together to address the region’s issues.

The assessment included a telephone survey of almost 2,000 adults in sixteen Hampton Roads communities, stretching as far north as Gloucester and James City County and as far west as Southampton County. The center also conducted interviews with elected and appointed officials and civic leaders, and held a youth focus group with leaders ages 17-22 on civic engagement.

Overall, 82 percent of those surveyed by telephone said they had discussed issues with their neighbors over the last twelve months. Seven-seven percent said they’d donated to a charity or service, 37 percent attended a neighborhood meeting, and 34 percent said they’d donated to local political causes. Ninety-two percent of those surveyed said they’d voted in the last twelve months.

While there does not appear to a be a single issue facing the region that Hampton Roads residents are focused on, those that ranked highest were the economy, transportation, and education.

When asked to rate how much they trusted institutions on a scale of 1-10, residents, on average, gave their local elected representatives a score of 5.65. Those scored slightly higher than elected state representatives, who received an average trust score of 5.63. Respondents gave the local daily newspaper an average trust score of 5.84. The highest trust rating went to local government employees, who received at score of 6.5.