.
Excellent	21%
Good	41%
Fair	14%
Poor	2%
Don't know/refused	22%

In general, do you approve or disapprove of Mayor Hickenlooper’s new appointments to the cabinet and senior positions in his administration?

.
Approve	58%
Disapprove	5%
Don't know/refused	37%

What do you believe is the most important issue for Mayor Hickenlooper and the Denver City Council to deal with?

.
Budget/fiscal problems	37%
Economy/jobs	27%
Education/poor schools	6%
Police problems/shootings	4%
Employee wages	3%
Poor government management	3%
Taxes too high	2%
Traffic congestion/roads	2%
Crime/gangs	1%
Too much growth	1%
Other (Health care, library, water, drought)	6%
Don't know/refused	8%

Ballot Questions
Thinking about the November election, the following issue may be on the November 2003 election ballot in Denver. Please tell me if as of today you strongly support the proposal, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the proposal.

A ballot issue sponsored by the mayor and city council to change the Denver city charter concerning salary and benefits for elected officials and employees. Several pages of rules and regulations would be reduced to a few paragraphs. The goal would be to make the rules more flexible and save money in compensation and benefits.

		.	Summary
Strongly support	37%		Support	68%
Somewhat support	31%		Experience	17%
Somewhat oppose	8%		Honest/ethics	15%
Strongly oppose	9%
Don't know/refused	15%

Charter Changes
Thinking about the changes in the Denver City Charter concerning the employment compensation of Denver elected officials and city employees, as I read you each of the following statements about the proposed changes please tell me if it’s a very good idea, good idea, a not very good idea or a very bad idea. (Rotated)

.
	Very Good Idea	Good Idea	Not Good Idea	Bad Idea	Don't Know
Limit raises of city council and the mayor to either the rate of inflation or average raise of regular city employees, whichever is lower	46%	38%	5%	4%	8%
Remove Denver charter language requiring automatic pay raises for city employees	37%	31%	12%	12%	8%
Create a more flexible merit-based system that can reward efficient and harder working employees with bonuses	46%	34%	6%	7%	7%

Summary of Charter Changes.
	Very good/ good idea	Not Good/ bad idea
Limit elected officials raises	84%	9%
Bonuses for employees	80%	13%
End automatic pay raises	68%	24%

As I read the following two statements concerning the Denver City Charter please tell me which one comes closest to your view:

1. The Denver City Charter section concerning employee rules for conditions of compensation and benefits should not be changed. Current City Charter rules are needed to protect employees from on-the-job politics and to properly compensate employees for their hard work. The changes proposed are just too extreme,
   
   or
   
   
2. The Denver City Charter section concerning employee rules for compensation and benefits should be changed to save money, increase flexibility in setting salaries and benefits, improve efficiency and provide merit incentives to harder working employees. During hard economic times it is necessary to have flexibility in setting salaries and benefits to avoid layoffs and service reductions.
   
   

   .
   Statement A	17%
   Statement B	73%
   Don't know/refused	10%

Ratings
I would like your views on some political leaders. As I read the following list of political leaders, please tell me your impression of each one as either very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable. If you aren’t familiar with a name, or don’t have an opinion, just say so. (Rotated)

.	Very Favorable	Somewhat Favorable	Somewhat Unfavorable	Very Unfavorable	No Opinion	Don't know
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper	34%	38%	3%	2%	17%	7%
Governor Bill Owens	22%	33%	19%	23%	2%	1%
Auditor Dennis Gallagher	10%	25%	4%	3%	33%	24%
State Attorney General Ken Salazar	21%	45%	6%	2%	14%	12%
Former Mayor Wellington Webb	17%	39%	20%	18%	4%	1%

Summary of Political Leader Rating
	Very/somewhat favorable	Very/somewhat unfavorable	Don't know
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper	72%	5%	24%
State Attorney General Ken Salazar	66%	8%	26%
Former Mayor Wellington Webb	56%	38%	5%
Governor Bill Owens	55%	42%	3%
Auditor Dennis Gallagher	35%	7%	57%

Thinking about job performance, as I read the following list of Denver agencies and groups please tell me if you believe each one is doing an excellent, good, fair or poor job. (Rotated)

.
	Excellent	Good	Fair	Poor	Don't Know
Denver Public Library	41%	42%	6%	2%	10%
Denver Police Department	11%	46%	33%	8%	2%
Denver Public Schools	6%	30%	36%	17%	11%
Denver City Council	2%	27%	36%	9%	25%
Denver Fire Department	37%	54%	6%	--	4%
Denver city employees	6%	42%	31%	7%	13%

Summary of Denver Agency/Group Performance
	Excellent/ Good	Fair/ Poor	Don't Know
Denver Public Library	91%	6%	4%
Denver Police Department	83%	8%	10%
Denver Public Schools	57%	41%	2%
Denver City Council	48%	38%	13%
Denver Fire Department	36%	53%	11%
Denver city employees	29%	45%	25%

Research Design

Telephone survey of 500 Denver adult registered voters from July 31-August 6, 2003. The survey was conducted by Ciruli Associates for Denver Public Library. Funding from private donations through the DPL Commission’s Special Trust Fund. Respondents were selected from a random sample of statewide registered voters who voted in the 2000 presidential election or are newly registered since November 2000. Statistical range of accuracy in 19 out of 20 cases is ±4.4 percentage points for a sample size of 500. Sample tolerances for subgroups are larger. Due to rounding, not all totals equal 100 percent. Survey results can be affected by other factors such as question wording and order. Ciruli Associates is a non-partisan research, communication and public policy firm providing consulting for Colorado and national organizations since 1976.

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