More Northeast Ohioans believe this summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland will have a long-term positive impact on the city. But at the same time fewer of them are excited about the event. Those are the findings of a second Baldwin Wallace University survey on the RNC.
Polling done in April shows 84 percent of respondents believe the RNC will give the region a lasting economic and image boost. That’s a 16 percent increase from the first survey done a month earlier. But Lauren Copeland of Baldwin Wallace’s Community Research Institute says over the same period enthusiasm waned.
“In the first survey we did in March, that was really before the protests at the Trump rallies began. And I think that as the protests got amplified in the media people started to become more concerned about the potential for protests to overshadow Cleveland’s spot in the sun.”
Copeland says about 75 percent of respondents continue to list security as the biggest concern. She adds that another survey will be done in June to gauge how Trump becoming the assumed nominee will impact attitudes.
