NEW ORLEANS — The UNO Survey Research Center revealed the results of its 2022 Quality of Life Survey and the findings show that crime is a concern for residents in both Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
Since 1986, the research center has polled registered voters in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, approximately every other year except in 2020 due to the pandemic, making this the first UNO Poll in four years.
The center polled 500 respondents in Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish from September 10 to 28.
According to Dr. Ed Chervenak, Director of the UNO Survey Research Center, while the quality of life in Jefferson Parish has declined slightly, the quality of life for Orleans residents has declined significantly by comparison.
“What we found in the study of 500 registered voters both in Orleans and 500 in Jefferson Parish is that, particularly for Orleans, the crime problem is having a profound effect on the quality of life in Orleans, that residents in the city are dissatisfied with life in New Orleans, and they say it has become the worst place to live over the last five years,” Chervenak says.
Chervenak also says over the past five years residents in both parishes have grown increasingly concerned with crime and safety, but according to the survey, Orleans residents are less confident that police in New Orleans can protect them.
“So, it is not just a matter of crime being out there and being fearful of crime, there is also this sense that nothing is being done to address it,” Chervenak says.
Key takeaways of the survey
- The crime problem is having a profound effect on the overall quality of life in Orleans.
- Residents in New Orleans are very dissatisfied with the quality of life in the city and say the city has become a worse place to live in the past five years.
- Over the past four years, residents in both parishes have become increasingly concerned with crime and safety.
- Residents lack confidence in the police to protect them.
- In Orleans, the Police Superintendent, the District Attorney, the Parish Sheriff, and the Criminal Courts have net negative approval ratings.
- Thirty-one percent of the city's residents say they approve of the job New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is doing, while 62% are unhappy with her performance in office.
- There are many more specific areas of dissatisfaction with services in New
- Orleans than in Jefferson.
- Jefferson residents are optimistic about the opportunities for employment in the parish and are more positive than Orleans residents about new jobs and industry coming to their parish.
- Most people in both parishes believe that global climate change is responsible for the recent severity of hurricanes, but partisan differences of opinion are evident.
- The quality of life has declined slightly in Jefferson Parish, but Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng and Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto enjoy high approval ratings.