The state’s two top business groups have joined with a local labor organization in an effort to keep large amounts of military spending flowing into Hawaii’s economy.
The loss of longtime military supporter Sen. Daniel Inouye, as well as a push in Washington to reduce federal spending, raise the possibility that Hawaii could see a reduction in support from a sector that accounts for 12 percent of the state’s economy, according to a report released Wednesday by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Hawaii Business Roundtable and Pacific Resource Partnership.
The three groups commissioned a poll asking Hawaii registered voters about their views on the economy and the role played by the military.
Nearly 3 out of 4 respondents described the military as "very important" to the state’s economy and jobs. Another 19 percent said they felt it was "somewhat important."
The poll also asked voters what they thought about military training activities in Hawaii. Of those polled, 49 percent said they "strongly support" military training, while 28 percent said they "somewhat support" it.
The poll shows "the importance of the military and our recognition that we have to step up as a community in a post-Inouye world to do as much as we can to protect the military presence in Hawaii," said John White, Pacific Resource Partnership executive director. PRP is an alliance between the Hawaii Carpenters Union and the trade contractors that use unionized workers.
Sherry Menor-McNamara, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, said that in addition to joining with the other coalition partners, the Chamber will restructure its Military Affairs Council to be more aggressive in attracting military spending to Hawaii.
"Alaska, San Diego and a lot of other states and cities are ramping up their efforts to compete for a military presence in their state," she said. "And that’s why we need to do that, too, in concert with our congressional delegation, the state administration and state legislators," she said.
The poll, conducted by Global Strategy Group, a mainland polling and public affairs firm, also gauged voter sentiment on a number of different issues facing Hawaii. The poll was based on a statewide telephone survey of 700 randomly selected registered voters.
A full 50 percent of respondents said their family income is tied to government (federal, state and local), the highest percentage of any sector. That was followed by tourism at 47 percent, health care at 42 percent and military at 39 percent.
Respondents who said they feel better off than a year ago outweighed those who said they feel worse off by a 2-to-1 margin. However, they were evenly split on a number of questions that measure their perceptions of the state’s economy.
The survey also asked Hawaii voters the same questions that compose the national Consumer Sentiment Index conducted monthly by the University of Michigan. At the time of the survey — the final week of September, before the partial government shutdown — Global Strategy Group found the index among Hawaii voters to be 82.5. The national figure for September was 77.5, and dropped to 73.2 for October.
In addition, the survey found there was a strong sense of pessimism among Hawaii voters regarding the cost of living, traffic and the availability of affordable housing.
Only 11 percent of those surveyed said they felt the cost of living was getting better, while 82 percent said they thought it was getting worse. The results were similar for traffic, with 10 percent saying they felt it was getting better and 82 percent saying they felt it was getting worse.
On affordable housing, 12 percent said they felt the availability was getting better, while 78 percent said they thought it was getting worse.
