Sunshine State Survey
The “LEADERSHIP FLORIDA SUNSHINE STATE SURVEY” is the most anticipated annual survey of Floridians on a wide range of baseline measurements and topical issues.
In 2009-2010 the annual Sunshine State Survey moved its usual release date from late December of 2009 to March of 2010. In hopes that Floridian's opinions will make a greater impact on our state, the new release timeline coincides with Florida's legistative session.
Florida is over‐polled when it comes to politics, but under‐surveyed on policy and civic engagement. This survey has become a critical source of citizen opinions on key issues facing this rapidly changing state‐‐soon to be the nation's third largest. The series of questions asked annually provides leaders and academics in the public and private sectors with much‐needed trend line data, while questions on newly‐emerging issues give leaders an invaluable baseline look at where a wide cross‐section of our state's residents stand on them.
Date & Findings
Survey History
Since 1999, Leadership Florida has conducted three single-topic surveys that have been widely publicized by the news media. The first dealt with statewide community and the degree to which our state’s citizens identified themselves as “Floridians;” the second surveyed college students in order to determine the likelihood of their remaining in Florida, and the third was conducted as part of Leadership Florida’s Faces of Florida campaign and concerned Floridians’ perceptions and experiences with prejudice and discrimination.
In 2006, at a meeting among the executives of the Askew Institute, the Collins Center, the Florida Institute of Government, and Leadership Florida, Dr. Susan MacManus of the University of South Florida cited a need for an annual poll of Floridians in order to establish longitudinal trend lines regarding citizens’ opinions and concerns on a variety of issues. Leadership Florida, the state’s most respected non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to developing a stronger sense of statewide community, accepted that responsibility and produced the first annual “SUNSHINE STATE SURVEY,” which received major press coverage across the state. It was announced that the survey would be conducted annually using the same core questions in order to provide the longitudinal data needed, and plans are currently underway for the second survey later this fall.
The “SUNSHINE STATE SURVEY” is slated to be the most anticipated annual survey of Floridians on a wide range of baseline measurements and topical issues. Academic scholars at every public and private university in Florida, as well as at all of its community colleges, are expected to make active use of the survey’s findings to inform their own work in a diverse set of vital endeavors.
The survey’s results are first revealed at an annual kickoff news conference in Florida’s capital city. Each year we expect – as with our past, very successful polls – to generate deep press coverage and comprehensive follow-up editorial support and op-ed columns.
Rollouts of the data is then planned for leaders in every region of the state. And, as state lawmakers and other key policymakers are addressing Florida’s pressing needs, the survey is a tool provided to assist in developing their vision for meeting those needs.
Advisory Board
When the "SUNSHINE STATE SURVEY" was in the planning stages, Dr. MacManus, the most oft-cited political science professor in Florida, chaired an academic advisory board working with Leadership Florida to develop the survey. The Advisory Board assisted in the selection of recurrent themes and gave an independent review of the methodology and interpretation. The board was comprised of a diverse group of highly respected Florida academicians. In addition to Dr. MacManus, they are:
Dr. Matthew Corrigan, University of North Florida
Dr. Kevin Hill, Florida International University
Dr. Lynn Leverty, The Askew Institute
Dr. Lawrence Morehouse, University of South Florida
Dr. Dario Moreno, Director, The Metropolitan Center, Florida International University
Survey Development
In addition to the longitudinal questions proposed by the advisory board, a percentage of questions each year are determined by Leadership Florida and focus on snapshots of public opinion on topical issues.