LOWVILLE, New York (WWNY) – Lewis County residents do not think the county and the nation are headed in the right direction. That’s according to Jefferson Community College’s 15th annual survey of the county out Tuesday.
Of the 550 people surveyed, 11% say the country is headed in the right direction.
“We looked within everyone of the 17 towns. And that didn’t just happen in Croghan, it didn’t just happen in Lowville, it happened in everyone of the 17,” said (Joe LaLone, research director, JCC’s Center for Community Studies.
LaLone also points out that Lewis County has a more pessimistic view of the country compared to Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties. The ongoing pandemic could be a reason for the lower percentages.
“There has been evidence that was reflected honestly by the participants, the 550 of them, that we’re waiting for this to end,” said LaLone.
The survey reveals residents don’t have confidence in their own county. Two years ago, 65% of residents said the county was headed in the right direction. This year it’s 35%.
In a separate category, people were asked 20 quality of life questions. The results for 19 of them were lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2018 and 2019.
The sharpest decrease was the view of town and village government, where positive answers are down 16% since 2019.
The only increase was for availability of good jobs. LaLone says that adds up because of the labor shortage. He says most people’s financial situations haven’t improved either.
“In this past year, it was only 12% that said their personal financial situation has gotten better,” he said.
That’s down from 31% two years ago. LaLone says some of the down trends are predictable because of the pandemic and some of the pre-pandemic responses were on the higher side.
See the results of the survey below:
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