Most Louisiana voters view quality of life poorly. They plan to stay anyway, poll shows. [The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.]

May 9—Though most Louisiana voters don't feel the state has a good quality of life, a vast majority plan to stay here over the next five years, a poll commissioned by The Times-Picayune — The Advocate found.

Just 43% of Louisianans feel positively about the quality of life in their state, according to the poll results. Though 79% of respondents said they plan to stay here over the next five years, younger voters — those between the ages of 18 and 44 — were more likely than their older peers to leave.

The results capture a snapshot of voters' thinking at a time when Louisianans face manifold obstacles. Those include persistent challenges, such as poor outcomes in education and health and a homeowners insurance marketplace thrust into crisis following a series of punishing hurricanes.

But even among younger voters, who were more likely to leave the Bayou State than their older peers, a sense that Louisiana is home pervades.

People in most northern and central parishes — much of the area north of Interstate 10 — reported being less likely to plan a move out of the state than those in southern, coastal parishes, which tend to be more impacted by powerful storms and climate change. About 14% of those polled from north of I-10 said they planned to move while 18% of those south of the interstate said so.

Voters were asked whether they "expect" to move, which may not always translate to them moving.

One of those planning to leave is Patrick Jacks, 37, who lives in New Orleans. Jacks has lived in Louisiana on and off for seven years after previous stints in Oregon.

The quality of public services Louisiana offers are worse than those in Oregon, including roads and public schools, Jacks said.

"With climate change happening, any sort of increased risk of storms or anything that would essentially cripple the fragile ecosystem we have here," Jacks said. "If we get a major storm again, it's going to be hard for me to stay."

Though south Louisianans reported being more likely to leave, voters in north and central Louisiana rated quality of life about as positively as those south of I-10: 44% of north and central Louisianans said they had a positive view of their quality of life in Louisiana while 43% said the same in south Louisiana.

Faucheux Strategies, a New Orleans-based nonpartisan research firm, interviewed 800 registered voters by phone across the state between April 22 and April 26. The poll's interviewees reflected Louisiana's registered voter demographics: 64% were White, 30% Black and 6% other. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3.46%.

The poll also showed Democrats are less optimistic about the state's direction than Republicans.

John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge-based pollster and analyst who mostly works with Republican clients, said that's likely a function of the election last fall of Gov. Jeff Landry, a conservative Republican who succeeded Democrat John Bel Edwards.

"That is something that is unfortunately a product of the polarization of today," Couvillon said. "In other words, had John Bel Edwards been governor, you probably could have flipped the script to where the Democrats might have been more optimistic than the Republicans."

The poll sheds light on several issues that may contribute to voters' feelings about their quality of life and political outlook. Chief among those was an enduring angst Louisianans feel about property insurance rates, which have grown dramatically after a dozen insurers went bust following the 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons and a number of others fled the state.

Responses also showed that a majority of voters are pleased with the work of Gov. Jeff Landry, a conservative Republican who has ushered in tough-on-crime laws, signed a package of bills that make it easier on insurance companies and is pledging to rewrite the state's constitution.

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How the poll was conducted

Faucheux Strategies, a nonpartisan research firm based in Louisiana, interviewed a representative sample of 800 registered voters across Louisiana between April 22-26.

Trained professionals conducted the interviews by telephone; 79% of them were contacted on cell phones and 21% on landlines.

The calls were based on a scientifically selected, random sample of state voters. The racial composition of the sample was 64% White, 30% Black and 6% other. For this poll, "independent" includes people who have no party affiliation and people who are affiliated with a third party. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3.46%.

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