Fall 2002 Business Climate Survey

1. Do you feel the property tax-based system utilized by school districts, and local government in Pennsylvania is fair and equitable?

24%	YES
68%	NO
8%	DON'T KNOW/NO OPINION

2. If local property taxes had to be replaced with another tax, would your favor a local earned income tax, a local sales tax, or a combination of earned income and sales taxes.

14%	LOCAL EARNED INCOME TAX
38%	LOCAL SALES TAX
44%	COMBINGATION OF BOTH
4%	NO ANSWER

3. The Pennsylvania General Assembly has convened a special session on property tax reform. Do you expect the special session will produce significant, structural changes in Pennsylvania's property tax system, or do you view the session as political posturing?

9%	EXPECT SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
79%	POLITICAL POSTURING
12%	NO OPINION

4. How important are property taxes when it comes to your making decisions about keeping or expanding your business in Pennsylvania?

34%	VERY IMPORTANT
32%	SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT
18%	SOMEWHAT UNIMPORTANT
14%	NOT IMPORTANT
2%	NO OPINION

5. Generally speaking, is it your view that state government has paid its fair share of public school expenses, or has an unfair burden been placed on local taxpayers?

26%	FAIR SHARE
59%	UNFAIR BURDEN
15%	NO OPINION

6. How seriously do you think the recent wave of corporate scandals has undermined public confidence in the business community?

39%	VERY SERIOUSLY UNDERMINED CONFIDENCE
44%	SOMEWHAT SERIOUSLY UNDERMINED CONFIDENCE
15%	NOT VERY SERIOUSLY UNDERMINED CONFIDENCE
2%	NO EFFECT/NO OPINION

7. How big of a factor do you think the recent wave of corporate scandals has been in contributing to the ongoing softness in the nation's economy?

30%	BIG FACTOR
42%	SOMEWHAT OF A FACTOR
28%	NOT MUCH OF A FACTOR
0%	NO OPINION

8. Which issue to you think will have a bigger impact on upcoming Congressional races, the economy or the war on terrorism?

57%	ECONOMY
14%	WAR ON TERRORISM
26%	BOTH EQUALLY
2%	NEITHER
1%	NO OPINION

9. When do you see the U.S. economy rebounding out of the current recession?

6%	1-3 MONTHS
10%	3-6 MONTHS
33%	6-12 MONTHS
40%	12-24 MONTHS
10%	NOT IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE

10. Do you think the Federal Reserve Board's recent monetary policies have helped to contain the current economic downturn, or contributed to it?

66%	HELPED CONTAIN
14%	CONTRIBUTED TO
16%	NO IMPACT
4%	NO OPINION

11. Which candidate for Governor do you think would do the best job for business in Pennsylvania, Republican Mike Fisher or Democrat Ed Rendell?

61%	MIKE FISHER
20%	ED RENDELL
8%	BOTH ABOUT THE SAME
3%	NEITHER
8%	NO OPINION

12. Looking ahead to the November election, do you expect Republican Mike Fisher or Democrat Ed Rendell to be elected the next Governor of Pennsylvania?

26%	MIKE FISHER
64%	ED RENDELL
10%	NO OPINION

13. Looking ahead to the November election, which political party do you expect will control the Pennsylvania State Senate, the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?

62%	REPUBLICAN
16%	DEMOCRAT
22%	NO OPINION

14. Looking ahead to the November election, which political party do you expect will control the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?

57%	REPUBLICAN
22%	DEMOCRAT
21%	NO OPINION

15. Looking ahead to the November election, which political party do you expect will control the United State Senate, the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?

56%	REPUBLICAN
29%	DEMOCRAT
15%	NO OPINION

16. Looking ahead to the November election, which political party do you expect will control the United States House of Representatives, the Republican Party or the Democrat Party?

72%	REPUBLICAN
15%	DEMOCRAT
13%	NO OPINION

SECTION II

1. In general, do you think business conditions in Pennsylvania are better, the same, or worse than they were six months ago?

6%	BETTER
44%	SAME
49%	WORSE
1%	NO OPINION

2. Looking ahead six months, do you think business conditions will be better, the same, or worse than they are now?

29%	BETTER
53%	SAME
17%	WORSE
1%	NO OPINION

3. Are employment levels at your company higher, the same, or lower than they were six months ago?

24%	HIGHER
48%	SAME
27%	LOWER
1%	NO OPINION

4. Looking ahead six months, do you anticipate that employment levels at your company will be higher, stay the same, or be lower?

26%	HIGHER
55%	SAME
17%	LOWER
2%	NO OPINION

5. Have your company's sales increased, stayed relatively the same, or decreased during the past six months?

26%	INCREASED
41%	SAME
32%	DECREASED
1%	NO OPINION

6. Do you expect your company's sales to increase, stay relatively the same, or decrease during the coming six months?

44%	INCREASE
45%	SAME
10%	DECREASE
1%	NO OPINION

7. At any point in the past six months has your company considered moving all or part of its Pennsylvania operations to another state?

3%	DID MOVE SOME OPERATIONS
17%	CONSIDERED MOVING SOME OPERATIONS
1%	CONSIDERED MOVING ALL OPERATIONS
2%	MOVED OPERATIONS INTO PENNSYLVANIA
74%	DIDN'T CONSIDER ANY MOVES
3%	NO ANSWER

8. Do you foresee at any point in the coming six months your company considering moving all or part of its Pennsylvania operations into another state?

0%	MAY MOVE ALL OPERATIONS
19%	MAY MOVE SOME OPERATIONS
79%	NOT CONSIDERING ANY MOVES
0%	MAY MOVE INTO PA
2%	NO ANSWER

9. In general, do you have a positive, negative, or no opinion of the job performance of the following individuals:

	POSITIVE	NEGATIVE	NO OPINION
President George Bush	85%	11%	4%
Fed Chair Alan Greenspan	82%	10%	8%
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter	30%	48%	22%
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum	59%	22%	19%
Gov. Mark Schweiker	77%	9%	14%

10. In general, do you have a positive, negative, or no opinion of the job performance of the following institutions:

	POSITIVE	NEGATIVE	NO OPINION
U.S. Senate	24%	68%	8%
U.S House of Reps	50%	41%	9%
PA Senate	39%	34%	27%
PA House of Reps	40%	34%	26%

METHODOLOGY:

The Lincoln Institute's Keystone Business Climate Survey was mailed on September 9, 2002 to 2,000 chief executive officers of companies employing at least 100 people in their Pennsylvania operations. As of the response deadline of September 27, 2002, 117 had responded to the survey.