Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1999 — OHA survey taps Hawaiian community [ARTICLE]

OHA survey taps Hawaiian community

FRONTPAGENEWS: U P D A T E S

By R y a n Mlelke fOR YEARS, legislators and community leaders have debated where the Hawaiian community stands on issues such as sovereignty, blood quantum and ceded lands. With the release Aug. 10 of a major survey commissioned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the community has provided some answers. The findings of a research project, conducted by Honolulubased SMS Research & Marketing Services Ine., indicate that

Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians agree on many of the most eontroversial social and poliheal issues confronting Hawai'i. As part of the 10-month project coordinated by OHA's Public Information Office, researchers sought the opinions of approximately 4,000 Hawai'i residents in order to determine the level of information and education priorities and awareness of the eommunity. The results will be used to help OHA's program managers as well as community leaders focus more accurately on the needs and preferences of the

Hawaiian community. According to researchers at SMS, the margin of error of the report is plus or minus 1.6 percent. The low margin of error is due to the large sample size of people measured, according to Daniel Nāho'opi'i, an SMS researcher who worked closely on OHA's research project. Some project findings revealed surprises while others provided new ways of looking at issues. īn certain key areas, such as sovereignty and blood quantum, the results are mixed.

Sovereignty: Four out of every 10 Hawai'i residents said they favor or partly favor the idea of Hawaiian sovereignty. On the other hand, 33.3 percent were opposed to Hawaiian sovereignty and another 20.5 percent remain undecided. Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians were almost identical in their support and opposition to this issue. According to the project, there is no clear majority in favor of or against sovereignty. If there is to be a sovereign Hawaiian government, however, Hawaiians are not likely to support a gov-

emment run by a monarchy. Only 21 percent of Hawaiians would support a monarchy form of government Approximately 80 percent would favor a govemment run by an elected leader. Other results may explain why there was such low voter turnout at the recent election for delegates to a native Hawaiian eonvention, where less than 9 percent of eligible Hawaiians voted. While 61.2 percent of eligible Hawaiians said they would vote in an eleehon of delegates to a native Hawaiian convention, 73 See SURVEY on paje 14.

SURVEY "

From page 1 percent of eligible Hawaiians said they will wait unhl they understand the issues more before taking part in such an eleehon. (More results at www.OHA.org.) Blood quantum: In a word, lower. In two words, mueh lower. That's the sentiment of the Hawaiian community when it comes to whether the blood quantum requirement should be changed as it applies to the OHA trust. Fully 95 percent of Hawaiians feel the blood quantum should be 25 percent or less. Forty-eight percent of Hawaiians feel it should be from any drop of Hawaiian blood to 12.5 percent. (More results at www.OHA.org.) Priorities for OHA trustees: When asked what OHA's trustees should focus on, education and land rights were by far the top preferences of Hawaiians. These were also the top two issues that surfaced when Hawai-

ians were asked, "What are the most important issues facing Hawaiians today?" Many more issues were covered by the research project, such as how often Hawaiians read the Ka Wai Ola, where Hawaiians get their information in the loeal media, what Hawaiian organizations Hawaiians are most familiar with, how often Hawaiians access OHA's web site, how politically active Hawaiians are, education and household ineome levels, familiarity with the case of Rice v. Cayetano, and others. While the project is extremely comprehensive, OHA's Public Information Ofi5ce plans to eonduct additional research to further measure the needs and preferences of the Hawaiian tyAll of the survey information provided to OHA trustees is now available for viewing or downloading from OHA's web site at www.OHA.org. ■