La. Survey shows economy and pandemic top residents’ concerns

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — The results of the 2021 Louisiana Survey, released Tuesday, indicate residents are most concerned with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy, even though more than two-thirds of those surveyed say that financially they’re doing as well or better than they were a year ago.

Researchers in the Public Policy Research Lab (PPRL) at LSU’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs polled 781 adult residents from across the state from January 4 to March 1 to find out how Louisianans view their government and its policies and what they say are the state’s most pressing issues.

Findings from the first of five reports indicate that:

• The crises of the past year haven’t had a big effect on what Louisiana residents think about the direction of the state. About 46 percent said the state is heading in the wrong direction, and 42 percent said it is heading in the right direction. In response to the center’s 2019 survey, 43 percent of respondents said the state was heading in the wrong direction, and 47 percent said it was heading in the right direction. That change is within the margin of error, according to the researchers. Beliefs about the direction of the state have held relatively steady since 2017.

• The pandemic has shifted the public’s priorities for what problems the state government should tackle. The economy and the pandemic topped residents’ concerns, replacing education and transportation infrastructure, which topped the list two years ago.

• Louisiana residents are neither more nor less confident in state government than they were before the pandemic. About 41 percent said they are either very confident or somewhat confident in state government to address problems effectively. This share is on par with annual results from the Louisiana Survey since 2013.

• The public has mixed views about the economy. On one hand, 72 percent of Louisiana residents said the state’s economy is worse than it was a year ago. On the other hand, 54 percent said their own financial situation is the same as it was a year ago, 17 percent said it was better, and 29 percent said it is worse than it was a year ago.

“I think that’s completely in line with reality,” said Jan Moller, executive director of the Louisiana Budget Project, a nonprofit that promotes policies to benefit low-to-moderate-income families. “This has been a completely uneven recession. It’s done the most damage by far to the people that have the least.”

Louisiana Illuminator (www.lailluminator.com) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianans.

This article originally published in the April 5, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.