Harris County Flood Control District Bond Election Survey Figure 1. “This August, Harris County voters will be asked to approve a 2.5 billion dollar bond to fund flood risk reduction projects throughout the county. How likely are you to vote in this August bond election? Are you certain to vote, very likely to vote, somewhat likely to vote, will not vote, or are you uncertain if you will vote in this August's County bond election?”

N = 705 Note: Nonresponses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) are excluded.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

Will not vote

Somewhat likely

Very likely

Certain

20.7%

14.5%

28.6%

36.2%

1

Figure 2. “According to the Harris County Budget Office, the bond would increase property taxes by $5 a year beginning in 2020 for a person whose home is worth $230,000, increasing to $50 a year by 2035. A homeowner whose home is worth $300,000 will pay about $7 more in property taxes per year beginning in 2020, increasing to $80 a year by 2035. Persons over 65 whose homes are worth less than $200,000 do not pay county taxes and would not pay any additional property taxes. Would you vote for or against the bond issue, or are you uncertain how you would vote?”

N = 788 Note: Nonresponses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) are excluded.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

35.2%

9.8%

55.0%

2

Figure 3. Support for bond by likely voters

N = 788 Note: “Yes” means that respondents are likely voters who are certain to vote in this August

bond election and “No” otherwise.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

38.3%

9.9%

51.8%

28.4%

9.5%

62.1%

Yes No

3

Figure 4. Support for bond by damage to residence due to Hurricane Harvey

N = 787 Note: “Yes” means respondents who had damage to their residence due to Hurricane

Harvey.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

38.0%

10.1%

52.0%

29.9%

9.3%

60.8%

Yes No

4

Figure 5. Support for bond by flooding experience

N = 781 Note: “Yes” means respondents who or whose family members experienced a personal

injury, property damage, or had to evacuate in face of severe weather since 2001.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

37.8%

7.6%

55.0%

31.7%

12.4%

56.0%

Yes No

5

Figure 6. Support for bond by age

N = 743

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

30.9%

11.3%

57.8%

30.6%

8.5%

60.8%

39.7%

8.4%

51.9%

35.8%

6.0%

58.3%

59.0%

22.7%

18.3%

18-25 26-35 36-45 46-64 65+

6

Figure 7. Support for bond by education

N = 779

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

39.8%

6.4%

53.8%

22.8%

8.3%

68.9%

33.9%

14.7%

51.5%

11.9%

16.0%

72.0%

49.0%

11.1%

40.0%

60.8%

4.2%

35.1%

Less than high school High school graduate Business/trade schoolAttend college College graduate Post graduate

7

Figure 8. Support for bond by partisanship

N = 732

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

37.2%

15.9%

46.8%

40.5%

8.3%

51.2%

29.0%

8.2%

62.8%

32.9%

9.5%

57.7%

Republican Democrat Independent Others

8

Figure 9. Support for bond among first wave respondents who opposed raising property taxes

N = 202 Note: The data come from the respondents who opposed raising property taxes to

mitigate the impact of severe weather events in the December wave of survey.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

46.9%

12.7%

40.4%

9

Figure 10. Support for bond among first wave respondents who supported raising property taxes.

N = 211 Note: The data come from the respondents who supported raising property taxes to

mitigate the impact of severe weather events in the December wave of survey.

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

Unsure

Vote against the bond

Vote for the bond

23.8%

5.3%

70.9%

10

Table 1. “Do you support or oppose this policy proposed and adopted by area governments to protect the Houston area from the effects of severe weather?”

Policy Support Oppose Nonresponse

A program to buy homes in areas that have repeatedly flooded with local state and federal moneys

59.6% 32.9% 7.6%

Construction of a new reservoir to protect the western portion of the Houston area 81.5% 8.9% 9.6%

Greater restrictions on construction in flood plains 84.1% 10.2% 5.7%

New building codes that require homes built in flood prone areas be elevated/raised to avoid flooding

84.0% 11.4% 4.6%

Widening bayous and channels 82.4% 8.6% 9.0%

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

11

Table 2. Individual willingness to pay property taxes to implement the infrastructure that protects to reduce the risk of flood events

Flood events 1.4% 5% 10% No increase N

Severe flood events 36.5% 22.3% 8.6% 32.6% 189

100-year flood events 40.4% 19.8% 6.5% 33.3% 187

200-year flood events 39.2% 15.6% 10.9% 34.3% 170

500-year flood events 45.3% 16.1% 6.8% 31.8% 178

12

Figure 11. “Some people believe that much of the money from the $2.5 billion bond issue for flood control will go to politically connected developers and construction firms instead of directly helping risk reduction projects throughout the county. Do you share this concern? Are you extremely concerned, very concerned, somewhat concerned, not very concerned, or not at all concerned?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

Nonresponse

Not at all concerned

Not very concerned

Somewhat concerned

Very concerned

Extremely concerned

2.2%

8.0%

8.0%

34.4%

26.0%

21.5%

13

Figure 12. Concern about much of the money from the $2.5 billion bond issue for flood control going to politically connected developers and construction firms instead of directly helping risk reduction projects throughout the county

N = 788 Note: Likely voters are those who are certain to vote in this August bond election.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

Not at all concerned

Not very concerned

Somewhat concerned

Very concerned

Extremely concerned

8.2%

8.1%

35.2%

26.6%

22.0%

5.5%

6.5%

27.7%

33.5%

26.9%

Likely voters All voters

14

Figure 13. “How confident are you that your elected county and city representatives know how to reduce/mitigate the negative impact of future flooding in the Houston area? Are you very confident, somewhat confident, not confident, or not confident at all?”

N = 791 Note: Nonresponses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) are excluded.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Not confident at all

Not confident

Somewhat confident

Very confident

17.7%

22.7%

52.2%

7.4%

15

Figure 14. Confidence in elected county and city representatives knowing how to reduce/mitigate the negative impact of future flooding in the Houston area

N = 791 Note: Likely voters are those who are certain to vote in this August bond election.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0%

Not confident at all

Not confident

Somewhat confident

Very confident

17.7%

22.7%

52.2%

7.4%

22.4%

23.6%

48.7%

5.4%

Likely voters All voters

16

Figure 15. “Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Yes No Nonresponse

73.5%

23.3%

3.2%

17

Figure 16. “Do you support the government regulation of greenhouse emissions gas?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Yes No Nonresponse

56.8%

29.1%

14.1%

18

Table 3. “Do you agree or disagree with this statement?”

Statement Agree Disagree N

Global warming poses a threat to future severe flooding in the Houston area 67.6% 32.4% 750

New construction in flood prone areas will result in more severe flooding 74.8% 25.2% 767

The state of Texas should spend money from its rainy day fund to assist local communities with recovery after flooding events

87.7% 12.3% 785

Note: Nonresponses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) are excluded.

19

Figure 17. “How many times since 2001 have you or any member of your immediate family experienced a personal injury, property damage, or had to evacuate from your home in face of severe weather?”

N = 813 Note: “No prior experience” includes non-responses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) and

those who answered “No” to the question about whether they or their family members have experienced a personal injury, property damage, or had to evacuate in face of severe weather since 2001.

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0%

No prior experience

More than three times

Three times

Twice

Once

56.7%

4.8%

7.3%

15.4%

15.8%

20

Figure 18. “Did you have to move from your residence because of Hurricane Harvey?”

N = 813

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Yes No

19.7%

80.3%

21

Figure 19. “Have you moved back into your residence, are you still living in temporary housing, or have you relocated to a new residence?”

N = 162 Note: 1. Only those who answered “Yes” to the question about whether they had to move

from their residence because of Hurricane Harvey were asked this follow-up question.

2. Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%

Nonresponse

Relocated to new residence

Still in temporary housing

Back in home

1.4%

36.8%

18.8%

43.0%

22

Figure 20. “Have you lived in the Houston area all your life, or did you move here from somewhere else?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Lifetime resident Moved to Houston Nonresponse

38.5%

61.0%

0.4%

23

Figure 21. “How long have you lived in the Houston metropolitan area?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0%

Nonresponse

More than 40 years

36-40 years

31-35 years

26-30 years

21-25 years

16-20 years

11-15 years

6-10 years

0-5 years

5.5%

28.9%

8.4%

5.9%

8.9%

7.0%

7.9%

6.6%

8.8%

12.2%

24

Figure 22. “Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or something else?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

Nonresponse

Others

Independent

Democrat

Republican

8.0%

13.4%

23.3%

31.5%

23.9%

25

Figure 23. “In which one of the following racial or ethnic categories would you place yourself?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0%

Nonresponse

Others

Asian American

Hispanic or Latino

Black or AfricanAmerican

White or Anglo

1.8%

6.0%

2.4%

20.2%

20.4%

49.2%

26

Figure 24. Respondents’ Age

N = 766 Note: Nonresponses (“Don’t know” and “Refused”) are excluded.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0%

65 years old and above

46-64 years old

36-45 years old

26-35 years old

18-25 years old

29.3%

35.0%

14.2%

15.6%

6.0%

27

Figure 25. “I'll read some annual family income categories. Could you please stop me when I reach the category that corresponds to your family income?”

N = 813 Note: Nonresponse includes “Don’t know” and “Refused”.

Technical Note A total of 815 respondents in Harris County were interviewed in June - July 2018. Since we oversampled areas where flooding was expected to have happened, an unrepresentative sample of owner and renter occupied households occurred. Therefore, we employed probability weights for the sample to reflect the current share of renter and owner occupied households based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) for Harris County. Due to the use of probability weighting, the resulting number of observations for analysis is reduced to 813.

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0%

Nonresponse

More than $150,000

$100,001 to $150,000

$50,001 to $100,000

$25,001 to $50,000

Under $25,000

16.9%

12.6%

10.6%

22.7%

19.2%

18.0%

28