The 2012 Utah Priorities Survey of Party Delegates and Voters

As part of the 2012 Utah Priorities Project, Utah Foundation and the Hinckley Institute of Politics have surveyed Utah voters and delegates to the major parties' state conventions. This survey was conducted for the first time in 2010, showing distinct differences between party delegates and voters, with delegates usually taking more zealous positions than their parties' voters. The 2012 survey also shows differences between voters and delegates, but those differences are not as pronounced as in 2010.
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Utah Priorities Gubernatorial Survey: A Comparison of Candidates' and Voters' Top Priorities for 2012

Utah Foundation recently released The 2012 Utah Priorities Survey, which provides a summary of the findings of a statewide Dan Jones & Associates survey assessing which issues are most important this election year and how voters feel about Utah's economy, society and politics. For the first time, Utah Foundation also requested that the gubernatorial candidates complete part of this survey. All of the Republican and Democratic candidates and two of three third-party candidates completed the survey.
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The 2012 Utah Priorities Survey: The Top Issues and Concerns of Utah Voters for the 2012 Election

In this election year, Utahns are more confident that the state is heading in the right direction than they were two years ago. However, they are still not as confident as they were in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Their concerns about issues like jobs and the economy, public education, and healthcare remain strong. Some issues that were important in the 2010 election, such as ethics of elected officials, states’ rights vs. the federal government, and federal lands in Utah have diminished, and Utahns are now more concerned with energy issues, higher education, partisan politics, and poverty.
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What is the Utah Priorities Project?

Each gubernatorial election year since 2004, Utah Foundation organizes the Utah Priorities Project. The project is designed to engage the public and political candidates in serious dialogue on the most important issues facing our state.

The Utah Priorities Project has four primary goals:

1. An unprecedented level of substantive discussion on the most important problems and issues facing this state during this important election year,
2. A wide audience of voters who are well informed on these issues, understanding the roots of problems and how each candidate would work to solve those problems,
3. Candidates who are well informed and engage in substantive debate, allowing voters to fully understand the potential consequences of their electoral choice, and
4. A clear agenda of top priority issues to address for a number of years, providing a framework for holding elected officials accountable for results on the issues on which Utahns want action.
   

We start this process with a survey by Dan Jones & Associates to determine the top 10 issues for voters this election year. The suvey is about to be released -- look for it here on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

In the meantime, take a look at recent research by Utah Foundation through the links below. We've also included recent news headlines featuring our work.