Many residents undecided in mayoral election poll

(Nov. 8, 2004)--Two-thirds of Bexar County residents are undecided on who they will support for mayor, according to the San Antonio Survey 2004 (SAS 2004) conducted by The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Sixty-five percent of likely voters reported they are undecided on who they will support for mayor. Eighteen percent indicate they support Councilman Julian Castro, while seven percent support Councilman Carroll Schubert, six percent support Phil Hardberger and five percent plan to support other candidates.

"Not surprisingly, the race for the San Antonio mayoral election took a backseat to the presidential election," said Arturo Vega, associate professor in public administration. "In the roughly two weeks before the presidential election when the survey was conducted, only 12 percent of the survey respondents indicated that did not know who they would support for president."

Among the one-third of respondents who intend to vote in the mayoral election, a slight majority (50 percent) claim support for Castro. The remaining 50 percent were split among Schubert (19 percent), Hardberger (16 percent) and others (15 percent).

SAS 2004 is an annual survey conducted by UTSA students in the combined research methods courses of sociology and public administration in conjunction with the university's Culture and Policy Institute. Surveys were conducted Oct. 17-24.

SAS 2004 data are based on a random probability sample of individuals with telephones and consist of 1,100 responses from the Bexar County metropolitan area. The standard error of the entire sample is +/- 2.95 percent with a 95 percent confidence level.

For more information, contact Juanita Firestone, UTSA professor and principal investigator, (210) 458-5601, Richard Harris, UTSA professor and co-investigator, (210) 458-5609 or Arturo Vega, UTSA associate professor and co-investigator, (210) 458-2650.

--Stephanie Mota