ATLANTA — A poll conducted at the direction of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens early last month shows 61% of likely voters support building the new public safety training center that opponents refer to as "Cop City."
However, the survey's low response rate weakens its findings, an Emory professor who reviewed the data told 11Alive.
The online survey was conducted Jan. 2-5 and included responses from 685 Atlanta residents who answered a series of question, including one about the training facility. The survey's response rate was 2%.
The poll was first mentioned by Dickens during an Atlanta Press Club lunch event last week. Its release comes as a member of the project's citizen advisory board and others challenge the Atlanta Police Foundation in court to stop work on the facility.
"A 2% response rate is very low," said George Easton, an Associate Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Emory University. "Without some kind of evidence that the respondents are similar in viewpoint to the entire target group, I would not put a lot of confidence in the survey results.
"It weakens any conclusion one can draw from the survey," he added. "At this point, I would say that the results are at most 'suggestive.' So they suggest that there is more support for building the training center than opposition — definitely not 'conclusive.'”
Where was the poll first mentioned?
Dickens first mentioned the survey during an Atlanta Press Club lunch event on Feb. 7. He mentioned the poll in response to claims that 70% of residents opposed the training facility during a 2021 Atlanta City Council public comment section.
Georgia Public Broadcasting provided 11Alive with audio from the event.
"We also do these things in politics called polls ... that 69% of Atlantans say they want to have a public safety training center for police and firefighters," Dickens said. "Even when we polled under the name 'Cop City' just to kind of see if we'd throw them off as the misinformationists are doing — we got it at 61%. So, people want a trained police and trained fire staff."
When asked about the surveys by 11Alive, Dickens spokesperson Michael Smith was unable to provide a poll that showed 69% support for the training facility.
Smith provided a copy of a survey conducted by Atlanta polling firm 20/20 Insight that showed 61% support among likely Atlanta voters. The firm told 11Alive that it did not have a survey showing 69% of residents supported the public safety training complex.
20/20 Insight, LLC. is headed by Democratic consultant Chris Huttman. Jeff DiSantis, the current spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, helped lead the firm before he began working under DA Fani Willis. Huttman told 11Alive in an interview that he worked on the Dickens campaign.
The firm sent potential respondents a text message with a link to the survey.
They were asked the follow question about the training facility:
"The city is currently building a new state of the art public safety training facility that will be used to train and recruit new police officers and firefighters. Some opponents refer to the training facility as "Cop City." As part of this process, some adjacent land will also be converted into new greenspace and parks that will be accessible to the public.
Do you support or oppose the building of the new public safety training facility?"
"I think it's a fair characterization of the project," Huttman said of the question's wording.
The survey results
11Alive reviewed the poll and interviewed Huttman to gain additional information about the survey.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.7% and a 95% confidence level. Only 2% of people who received the poll responded, Huttman told 11Alive.
Roughly 61% of the 685 respondents supported the public safety training facility. Approximately 26% opposed it, and 13% said they were not sure.
According to the survey, 57% of white respondents supported building the facility. Roughly 27% opposed, and 16% were not sure. Approximately 52% of those surveyed reported their race as white.
Roughly 68% of Black residents surveyed said they supported the building of the complex. Roughly 21% opposed, and 11% were not sure. Approximately 41% of residents surveyed reported their race as Black.
Black and white residents made up 93% of the survey.
The survey provided to 11Alive didn't include the results for Asian residents, Hispanic residents and residents who listed their race as "other."
By council district
Half of the respondents live in Atlanta's eastern council districts of 1,2, 5 and 6. Approximately 16% live in the "core Buckhead" districts of 7 and 8, and roughly 34% of surveytakers live in the southern council districts of 3,4,9,10,11 and 12.
Each region saw more than 55% support for the project.
By age
Younger residents were less likely to support the training complex than their older counterparts.
Only 37% of residents between the ages of 18 and 34 said they wanted the facility. Roughly 50% opposed, and 13% said they weren't sure.
A majority of other age groups said they supported the project. Residents ages 65 and above were the most supportive with 80% saying they wanted the facility. This group made up only 16% of the survey's total respondents.
Roughly 32% of respondents were ages 18-34. Approximately 31% were ages 35-49, and 20% were ages 50-64, Huttman said.
By political ideology
Respondents who identified as liberal were less likely to support building the facility, according to the poll.
About 48% of self-identified liberals supported the project. Roughly 41% opposed it, and 11% said they were not sure.
About 66% of moderates and 92% of conservatives said they supported the project.
Huttman told 11Alive that 45% of respondents said they were liberal. Roughly 37% identified as moderate, and about 11% said they were conservative.
Below is a copy of the full poll: