New Nationwide Poll: Voters Want Government to Use Technology to Cut Deficits, Curb Spending

WASHINGTON, May 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new nationwide poll found that 92% of U.S. voters believe "public agencies should make better use of new technologies to cut government spending and improve efficiency."

The survey, commissioned by Google Enterprise, was conducted by Clarus Research Group, a nonpartisan survey research firm based in Washington, D.C.

"State and Local governments are facing tough budget decisions given the increased demand for services and shrinking revenues," said Dr. Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus. "Based on these poll results, voters across the nation want their elected officials to look at new technologies as a way to cut spending and make government more efficient."

As an example of using technology to reduce costs, Dan Israel, Public Sector Marketing Manager for Google Enterprise, said, "Google-powered e-mail systems are helping governments from Los Angeles to Orlando give employees better tools to make them more productive while reducing costs. When it comes to balancing budgets, technology can be a win-win for everybody, especially taxpayers."

Other findings of the survey:

• 78% of voters surveyed said they are more likely to vote for a candidate for local or state office with "specific ideas" to "cut government overhead and improve productivity of government employees."
• 70% believe it would be a good idea to use "the computer power and expertise of private companies to improve information technology departments in government agencies."
• 75% of voters believe "quicker and more efficient e-mail systems" would make government employees more productive.
• When told the "City of Los Angeles contracted out the hosting and management of its e-mail system to Google, and was able to improve services and save over a million dollars a year as a result," 72% of voters said they want their state and local governments to seriously consider doing the same with their e-mail systems.
• 66% of voters nationwide believe state and local governments should solve their own budget problems and only 22% support greater federal aid for state and local governments to solve their budget problems.

ABOUT THE POLL:

The poll was commissioned by Google and conducted by the non-partisan Clarus Research Group, March 14-17, 2010, based on a representative, nationwide sample of 1,000 voters via live telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error was +/- 3.1 percent.

SOURCE Clarus Research Group

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