Excerpted questions and answers from the "Cincinnati Charter Change Poll," a telephone poll of 300 registered voters in the city of Cincinnati, conducted Tuesday and Wednesday by Public Opinion Strategies. Answers may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding. The margin of error is 5.66 percentage points.

Q: Generally speaking, would you say that things in Cincinnati are going in the right direction, or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?

28% Right direction

63% Wrong track

8% No opinion

1% Refused

Q: What's the most important problem facing Cincinnati today? That is, the one that you, yourself, are most concerned about?

30% Crime

22% Racial problems

14% Economic issues

10% State/local government

5% Education

4% Taxes

1% Growth/transportation

1% War and peace

4% Other

2% No problems

7% Don't know

Q: And, do you approve or disapprove of the job the Cincinnati City Council is doing?

6% strongly approve

31% somewhat approve

25% somewhat disapprove

25% strongly disapprove

12% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Generally speaking, do you believe that the city of Cincinnati is staying ahead of other similar areas across the country, is keeping up with them, or is it falling behind other similar areas?

3% Staying ahead

24% Keeping up

66% Falling behind

7% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, as you may know, under Cincinnati's current charter, the mayor of the city is directly elected, the mayor is responsible for picking the city manager who is the chief executive officer of city government, and the city manager then reports to both the mayor and the city council. Do you believe this current system is providing effective leadership to address the city's problems?

21% strongly yes

22% not-so-strongly yes

18% not-so-strongly no

31% strongly no

Q: And, based on what you have seen, read or heard about city government, which one of the following do you believe is most responsible for running city government?

16% The city manager

33% The mayor

39% The City Council

4% All of them equally

5% Don't know

2% Refused

Q: And, which do you believe should be most responsible for actually running city government?

19% The city manager

34% The mayor

36% The City Council

7% All of them equally

3% Don't Know

Q: And, as a voter, which do you feel is most accountable to the city's voters?

7% The city manager

31% The mayor

50% The City Council

7% All of them equally

5% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, as you may know, under Cincinnati's current charter, the mayor of the city is directly elected, the mayor is responsible for picking the city manager who is the chief executive officer of city government, and the city manager then reports to both the mayor and the City Council. Do you believe that this current system is providing effective leadership to address the city's problems?

21% Strong yes

22% Not-so-strong yes

18% Not-so-strong no

31% Strong no

8% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, I'd like to read you two different opinions regarding the city's system of government and please tell me which you agree with most:

• The city's current city manager system of government works well because a professional administrator runs city government, rather than the politicians.

• The city's current city manager system does not work well because the city manager is responsible to both the mayor and City Council, making it unclear who is in charge, resulting in few things getting done.

20% Strongly current system works well

18% Not-so-strongly current system works well

17% Not-so-strongly current system does not work well

39% Strongly current system does not work well

4% Don't know

1% Refused

Q. And, do you believe that the current form of city government...

17% Is serving the city well and should be kept as is

54% Is not serving the city as well as it should and needs some changes

28% Is not serving the city well at all and needs a major overhaul

2% Don't know

Q: Now I'd like to tell you some information about a couple of proposals that are being considered to change the form of city government. The first proposal continues to call for the direct election of the mayor and eliminates the position of city manager, making the mayor directly responsible for running city government. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?

20% Strongly favor

20% Somewhat favor

19% Somewhat oppose

39% Strongly oppose

1% Don't know

Q: The next proposal continues to call for the direct election of the mayor and makes the mayor solely responsible for hiring and firing the city manager, essentially making the mayor responsible for running city government. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?

28% Strongly favor

23% Somewhat favor

16% Somewhat oppose

28% Strongly oppose

5% Don't know

Q: Now, how responsive do you feel that City Council is to issues that concern the city or you and your neighbors?

17% Very responsive

28% Somewhat responsive

20% Not very responsive

12% Not at all responsive

2% Don't know

Q: Do you believe there is a member of the City Council who really stands up for the concerns and problems in your specific neighborhood or community?

50% Yes

39% No

11% Don't know

Q: No, as you may know, Cincinnati City Council members are paid $57,000 annually. Do you think that is too much, not enough or about right?

18% Too much

68% About right

7 % Not enough

6% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, as you may know, the Cincinnati City Council is comprised of nine City Council members, all of whom are elected at-large, that is, by all voters in the city. Do you believe that the current system of electing nine members of the City Council at-large....

53% Is serving the city well and should be kept as-is

34% Is not serving the city as well as it should and needs some changes

11% Is not serving the city well at all and needs a major overhaul

2% Don't know

Q: Now, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: The city's current system of electing council members at-large makes it difficult for residents to hold individual members accountable for their actions and leaves many neighborhoods without an advocate on City Council.

31% Strongly agree

24% Somewhat agree

23% Somewhat disagree

18% Strongly disagree

4% Don't know

Q: And, which of the following ways of electing the city's City Council do you believe would provide the city with leadership and a strong neighborhood voice?

33% The current system of electing all Council members at-large across the city

20% A new system where council members are elected from specific neighborhood districts

23% A new system where some council members are still elected at-large, but most are elected from specific neighborhood districts

19% A new system where council members are still elected at-large, but where voters rank their council candidates in order of preference

4% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, I'd like to tell you some information about some specific proposals that are being considered to change the way City Council is elected (from all nine members being elected at large by all voters in the city), and please tell me whether you would favor or oppose each one. The first one is a proposal that calls for nine members to be elected, three who would be elected citywide, and six others from specific neighborhood districts, with each district including about 55,000 people.

18% Strongly favor

28% Somewhat favor

16% Somewhat oppose

34% Strongly oppose

3% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: The next one is a proposal that calls for nine council members to be elected, with all nine being elected from specific neighborhood districts, with each district including about 36,000 people.

23% Strongly favor

21% Somewhat favor

21% Somewhat oppose

28% Strongly oppose

4% Don't know

2% Refused

Q: The next one is a proposal that calls for 15 council members to be elected, with all 15 being elected from specific neighborhood districts, with each district including about 22,000 people. Under this proposal, council salaries would be reduced so that the cost of City Council would not increase.

14% Strongly favor

16% Somewhat favor

17% Somewhat oppose

50% Strongly oppose

3% Don't know

Q: The next one is a proposal that calls for nine council members to be elected citywide, where voters rank their council candidates in order of preference and votes are tabulated on each candidate's ranking among all voters.

21% Strongly favor

28% Somewhat favor

19% Somewhat oppose

29% Strongly oppose

3% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, I'd like to tell you a little more about a couple of the neighborhood district proposals. Under the first proposal, candidates for both the at-large seats and the neighborhood seats would run in non-partisan primaries, with the top two candidates in each race facing off in the general election, similar to the way the mayor is elected. Do you favor or oppose this aspect of the proposal?

13% Strongly favor

33% Somewhat favor

22% Somewhat oppose

25% Strongly oppose

6% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Under this next proposal, all of the candidates for both the at-large seats and the neighborhood seats would run in the general election, with the top vote-getter in each race winning the seat, even if the candidate received less than 50 percent of the votes cast. Do you favor or oppose this aspect of the proposal?

9% Strongly favor

21% Somewhat favor

27% Somewhat oppose

35% Strongly oppose

7% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: Now, through the interview we've discussed two different ways to change the form of government here in Cincinnati. The first has to do with providing the mayor with more power to run city government and the second has to do with changing the way the City Council is elected to provide more neighborhood representation.

If the election were held today, would you vote for both the executive mayor proposal and the neighborhood district proposal, neither proposal, or just one of the two proposals?

24% Both proposals

17% Neither proposal

24% Executive mayor proposal only

30% Neighborhood district proposal only

3% Don't know

1% Refused

Q: And, which proposed change do you believe would do the most to get Cincinnati on the right track, the executive mayor proposal or the neighborhood district proposal?

32% Executive mayor proposal

56% Neighborhood district proposal

1% Both

8% Neither

2% Don't know

1% Refused