Indiana
Public Broadcasting and Ball State University’s Bowen
Center for Public Affairs have unveiled the results from the 2022
Hoosier Survey. This non-partisan public policy survey is designed to take the
pulse of the state regarding the most pressing issues facing Indiana residents,
and provides policymakers with a measure of public opinion on current issues
facing the state and nation.
The full 2022 Hoosier Survey results can be found on the Bowen Center’s
website.
“The Bowen Center for Public Affairs is grateful for its
partnership with Indiana Public Broadcasting to once again provide the Hoosier
Survey—a valuable tool for Hoosiers and state lawmakers,” said Dr. Chad
Kinsella, director of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs and associate
professor of Political Science at Ball State. “As evidenced once again in the
most recent election cycle, the Hoosier Survey is a proven commodity that gets
right to the heart of the matters most important to those living and working in
our great state.”
This year’s Hoosier Survey featured interviews, conducted
by Ironwood Insights Group, Inc., with 600 Indiana adults (age 18 or older).
The interviews, which were conducted between Oct. 21 and Nov. 8, 2022, were
done by telephone (299)—both by landline (42) and cell phone (257)—and online
(301). The margin of sampling error for the complete set of data is ±4.0
percentage points.
Survey topics for the 2022 Hoosier Survey included
demographics, approval, abortion, wages/income, public health, environment,
polarization, and civic engagement. Some key takeaways include:
• Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (48.7 percent
approval rating) remains popular among many Indiana residents, while 58.2
percent of Hoosiers disapprove of the overall job of President Joe Biden.
• A majority of Hoosiers surveyed (56.7
percent) believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Most Hoosiers—more
than 76 percent—find abortion to be an important or at least somewhat important
issue. Given this, Hoosier voters were almost even split on whether they would
vote for a candidate that has a different stance on this issue, with 48 percent
saying they would not and 52 percent saying they would or might still vote for
such a candidate.
• Mirroring public opinion across several
states and the nation, Hoosier views on marijuana are favorable, with more than
85 percent of respondents saying that marijuana should be legal in some form,
and only 15 percent of respondents saying it should be illegal.
• Concern for the environment seems to be high—to
the point where 51.2 percent of Hoosiers believe protecting the environment
should take precedence over economic growth.
A first-of-its-kind public policy survey for the Bowen
Center for Public Affairs, the inaugural Hoosier Survey was conducted in 2008. Several
demographics are collected with each survey, including gender, political party,
ideology, age, education, race, income, and religious service attendance.
Founded in March 2007, the Bowen Center for Public
Affairs is a freestanding center at Ball State University in the College of Sciences and Humanities and is
allied with the Department of Political Science. The
center honors the integrity and leadership of Dr. Otis R. Bowen, the
44th Governor of Indiana and the 16th Secretary
of Health and Human Services under President Ronald Reagan.
Advancing the ideals of civic literacy, community
involvement, and public service embodied by Dr. Bowen’s career, the center
provides networking, training, and research
opportunities through its three institutes: Bowen Institute on Political
Participation; Institute for Public Service; and Institute for Policy Research.