Date: 19 October 99 From: npg at npg.org To: population-news at npg.org
State poll shows concerns about growth, population
by Robin Benedick Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel October 13, 1999
More than four out of five Floridians surveyed think the state's growing population is a problem, and two-thirds want immigration scaled back, a poll indicates.
The poll, commissioned by Negative Population Growth, a Washington, D.C.-based group committed to reducing the U.S. population, is being touted as the first state survey to show strong discontent about growth and overpopulation.
"We have too many people being born and too many immigrants coming in," said Christopher Conner, Negative Population Growth's deputy director.
He hopes the telephone poll of 500 likely voters statewide sparks a national debate and prompts Congress to reduce legal immigration into the United States by hundreds of thousands of people a year.
Fewer immigrants and smaller households -- with families voluntarily having fewer than two children per household -- would help curb the nation's population.
Conner was in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, the day the United Nations expected the world population to reach 6 billion, to release the results of the poll taken in September.
Florida is seen as a microcosm of problems associated with rapid growth. Similar polls may be conducted in other states.
The poll results, with a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points, had few surprises: The longer people lived in Florida, the more concerned they were about growth, development, immigration, the environment and quality of life issues.
Joyce Tarnow, a Pompano Beach resident and president of Floridians for a Sustainable Population, wants the poll to get people talking about Florida's future.
Florida, the nation's fourth-largest state, doubled in population over the past quarter century to 15 million and is projected to double again in 39 years.
"We need to stop growth before it's too late and we've destroyed our natural resources," she said.
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