The Pulse

'I'm OK, but 'I'm worried about you'

By ELLEN M. DRAN

The just-finished election season presented us with a daily barrage of just how badly off Americans are. From objective reports on the economy to subjective feelings that the country is "on the wrong track," we are now all familiar with the areas in which the nation is just not up to the expectations of its citizens.

To obtain opinion specific to this state, the 1992 Illinois Policy Survey asked adults how they perceive conditions in Illinois. They were asked to evaluate their level of satisfaction with how things are going generally and specifically their assessment of financial conditions and health care. These results for Illinois are about as gloomy as the nation's.

In the Illinois poll, however, respondents were also asked to assess their own personal positions, and the results reveal a very distinct difference between the way people see themselves and what they think is happening to everyone else in Illinois. Respondents tend to perceive themselves as better off than others in the state (see figures 1, 2 and 3).

Support for increased spending by level of satisfaction with one's personal life How things are going personally
Support spending	Satisfied In	between	Not satisfied
Roads	31%	22%	29%
Public education	73	73	71
Colleges	56	53	57
Environment	48	48	49
Low-income families	47	49	52
Economic development	57	51	64
Prisons	31	29	35
Job training	69	65	75
Medical	53	62	61
National health tax	54	54	53

The greatest contrast is in health care: 41 percentage points separate individuals who say their own health care is excellent or good and those who think health care in the state generally comes up to those standards.

The difference in overall satisfaction is almost as large, with a 36 percentage point spread between satisfaction with how things are going for oneself and how things are going for Illinois in general. On economic conditions, a substantial minority of respondents (26 percent) think their own financial position has worsened over the past four years, but that percentage more than doubles to a hefty 63 percent who say financial conditions are worse for "the people of Illinois."

Why the discrepancy between these perceptions of self and others? Possible explanations have to do with the influence of the media on public perceptions and with the empathy/sympathy of Illinoisans towards their fellow (and sister) citizens.

Good news may not sell newspapers, but in the process of accentuating the negative, the media can mislead the public's understanding of conditions generally. For instance, there is some indication that media coverage has exaggerated the poor condition of the economy recently. Certainly the economy was worse in 1984 than in 1992. Yet negativism on the economy in both the media and the public was generally lower in 1984 than this year. While there have been improvements in the economy since the lows of early 1991,

36/December 1992/Illinois Issues

Figure 1 How Things Are Going Figure 2 Financial Conditions Compared to Four Years Ago Figure 3 Rating of Health Care

public morale has continued to fall.

Whatever the media's overemphasis, there is no doubt that many citizens do indeed suffer the ills of greater levels of joblessness and underemployment, lower real incomes, difficult access to health care and lowered expectations compared to only four years ago. There is some evidence from other questions in the 1992 Illinois Policy Survey to support the interpretation that citizens of Illinois are aware of the pain that some of their compatriots are undergoing and that they care about it.

For instance, individuals who are satisfied with their own lives in Illinois are about as likely as others to support increased spending for state activities that help others, such as for education, aid to low-income families and job training. They are also just as willing to pay higher taxes to support a national health insurance plan (see table).

The same pattern emerges when Illinoisans who say they are better off financially are compared to those who say they are the same or worse off. All three groups tend to support state spending and tax increases for health coverage at about the same rates.

Although individuals who say their own health care is excellent or good are somewhat less willing than others to support higher taxes for national health insurance, almost half of these fortunate individuals are willing to do so. Forty-nine percent of those with excellent or good health care support a tax increase versus 64 percent of individuals whose own health care is fair or poor. A majority of the more fortunate (52 percent) also support increased state spending for medical care.

These survey responses indicate that the majority of Illinoisans are doing OK, but they look beyond their own good circumstances to worry about everyone else. And that, at least, is something very positive to report, even if it won't sell any newspapers.

Ellen M. Dran is a research associate in the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, which has conducted the Illinois Policy Survey since 1984. With a sample size of 800, sampling error can be expected to be no more than plus or minus 3.5 percent. For smaller subgroups (such as gender), the error will be larger.

December 19921 Illinois IssuesI 37