Poll Presentation to Pleasant Grove

On Aug 20, the group Stronger Together presented to the Pleasant Grove City Council the results of their poll that was conducted in July. Before looking at the slides, here are some things that should be known about the poll

• In July, many voters were still uneducated about the potential options for splitting. Even now, many are unaware. Education will be crucial to get this across the finish line.
• The poll contained some misleading questions about cost that we will point out.
• While some of the numbers seem credible, others raise questions. Any poll should not be taken as definitive, even after accounting for the margin of error.
• The names used in the poll are not the names that have been used since MGT labeled them as West, Central, and East. Instead, they used North and South – possibly adding to the confusion.

Here are some of the screenshots of the slides with some commentary.

Again, the biggest takeaway here is that voters are not informed. They need information, especially in the Central/North.

These numbers seem especially low for the 3 way split, considering Orem’s Prop 2 got almost 30% of voters in favor.

These numbers demonstrate that there are a lot of undecided voters that need to be reached out to in the Central/North. The “none of the above” option also possibly led to confusion.

As suspected, the West is very much in favor of splitting. The “none of the above” option is still confusing here, too.

They gave different options to the different areas and for the most part, got the results they were hoping for. When you put out confusing options, you will get confused poll responses. The “none of the above” option makes no sense. What other option is there?

They pointed out that the West side wants a 3 way split and seemed baffled that the West should dictate what the rest of the district should do. (While at the same time, the group that is mostly from Orem is the one who formed a PIC to oppose the West.) But here’s the thing: if the district only splits in 2, with the West going, the split will be very unbalanced. The east side would dominate in the split discussions and the West would be getting the short end of the stick. It makes perfect sense why they prefer a 3 way.

Haven’t we been arguing that students should be the highest priority? But they are not served well when the district is so large and board members are not responsive to their communities.

This is the unfair question. The fact is ASD has already voted to raise taxes this year, and will continue to do so. So to put this question out there is both misleading and confusing.

Another confusing/misleading question. It doesn’t really matter to voters who puts forth the option. The ballot doesn’t say who put the option forward. It only asks if the new district should be created. The fact is, many of the 3-way split supported originally wanted the school board to direct the split recommendations. That failed because several board members were actively pushing certain options so they could derail the whole conversation and then say it was the will of the people.

Their key findings are biased to their viewpoint. Their last point is actually incorrect: 90% of the voters in the North and South are not opposed to a 3 way split – that wasn’t the question. The question was either which would they prefer or which would they vote for.

Stronger Together will ALWAYS say “it’s not the right way or time to split”. They are not interested in splitting at all. They demonstrated that and stated so many times. Back when Orem was proposing to split away, they tried to convince people that it should be Lindon, Vineyard, PG and Orem. But now, as soon at that’s an actual option, they are against it. The only reason they are saying it now is to defeat the proposition at the ballot box.

Now, with all that said, proponent of the West and Central districts have their work cut out for them. We must educate voters on the benefits and positive reasons why we need a split and we need it now.