Results from the first Big Apple Poll reveal startling similarities as well as differences between immigrants and non-immigrants.  A key difference between the groups revealed by the Big Apple Poll is that, despite the fact that immigrants and non-immigrants report the same levels of educational attainment overall, immigrants as a group have annual household incomes of about $10,000 less than non-immigrants. This contrast is true even after statistically adjusting for differences in gender, race and age.

Education is the most important current issue in the view of both immigrants and non-immigrants, and both groups show considerable support for school vouchers. Of those respondents who were familiar with vouchers, 77% of immigrants and 71% of non-immigrants want "to be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice." Among non-immigrants, support for vouchers is strongest among the lowest socio-economic groups. Fully 87% of Hispanics and 81% of African Americans said they wanted school choice, compared to 61% of Whites. Similarly, 81% of those reporting incomes under $25,000 wanted choice compared to 64% of those with incomes over $100,000. Not surprisingly, the same pattern appeared in educational attainment. The more education the respondent had, the less concern there was about school choice, presumably because the better educated (with higher incomes) already have some degree of school choice.

Results of the first Big Apple Poll show that immigrants are surprisingly similar to non-immigrants in attitudes toward the City and toward their neighborhoods. They view problems with Social Security similarly; their work history in the previous five years is comparable. Both groups are unhappy with public high school and elementary school education and feel that the public schools are unsafe. Immigrants differ in race in that they are more diverse; come from somewhat larger families; and have lived fewer years in the City. They also differ in the language spoken at home; however, 60% of the immigrants report speaking English more often than their native language at home.

At Hunter College, a state-of-the-art, multi-use polling facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. In the interim, the first poll was conducted on Hunter's behalf by Schulman, Ronca and Bucuvalas, Inc., a New York-based polling firm. With the assistance of colleagues from other academic disciplines, the quality-of-life questionnaire was developed by Big Apple Poll director Bill Williams, a Hunter College professor of mathematics and statistics and former executive vice president of Louis Harris Associates, which conducts the highly regarded Harris Poll.

For the fall, Hunter students who are fluent speakers of Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish or other languages will be recruited from the undergraduate and graduate student population. With nearly 20,000 students from more than 140 countries, Hunter is one of America's most ethnically diverse colleges, with a student population reflecting the demographics of New York City. Once selected, the students will receive professional training on how to conduct telephone interviews, then work in same-language teams. The Hunter student-pollsters will function either as paid, part-time employees or as interns, receiving academic credit through related academic courses. Whether paid employees or interns, "student participants will receive an educational experience beyond what is possible in the classroom alone, as well as practical job skills that are much in demand," notes Hunter College president David A. Caputo, a political scientist with a specialty in urban governance.

"The Hunter College Big Apple Poll will help gauge the average citizen's perception of the quality of life in the city, and how that perception might change over time," says President Caputo. "We expect the results will be useful to individuals who determine City policy, as well as those who are seeking public office."

Multilingual polling increases the survey's statistical accuracy, according to Professor Williams. "It is difficult to have confidence in 'Quality of Life' surveys if language groups are knowingly excluded, especially in a locale as ethnically diverse as New York City," he says. Professor Williams points out that polls in New York City have sometimes had to drop 20 to 25 percent of the eligible interviewees because of language barriers, but the Hunter College Big Apple Poll should have no such problem.

"In addition to using multilingual interviewers, we will use multilingual focus groups to help us formulate the questions," he adds. "In this way, we will be assessing the concerns of a truly representative group of New Yorkers." And since telephone surveys increasingly suffer from non-response, the HCBAP plans to use mixed-mode survey methods, including Internet-based polling.
"The multilingual polling will give us the opportunity to include a more diverse population in the sample and more accurately reflect their opinions," adds President Caputo.

The full expertise of the diverse Hunter College faculty will be brought to bear on the quality of life issues of New York City. "Successful polling demands in-depth knowledge of many subjects, which Hunter College faculty clearly possess," says President Caputo. The HCBAP expects to utilize top faculty experts from departments such as Sociology and Health Sciences to review poll operations and procedures. A separate Policy Advisory Panel of professionals from both inside and outside of Hunter College is also being formed.

The Big Apple Poll is not the first Hunter project to use the multilingual skills of its students. The college's trailblazing Community Interpreter Project, which used multilingual students in city hospitals and clinics to interpret for doctors and patients who didn't speak the same language, has been replicated nationwide.