How the poll was conducted
Hawaiians share views

Poll Graphics
Issues facing Hawaiians
Creating a sovereign Hawaiian nation or Hawaii government

VOICES OF HAWAI‘I • As a new century dawns, the issues facing Hawaiians converge in a dramatic way. The Supreme Court strikes down voting rules. Congress considers a new legal status for Hawaiians. The sovereignty debate intensifies. Land issues remain unresolved. This series on The Advertiser’s Hawai‘i Poll reports how Hawaiians view this important time of change.

The Hawaiian community is far more conservative on many issues than its most vocal leaders, but it is pohaku-solid on what its most important concerns are: education, self-determination and access to land, according to a new Honolulu Advertiser Hawai‘i Poll.

Hawaiians also expressed concern about what they see as a lack of leadership in their community and continuing friction between various political groups.

The poll of Native Hawaiians comes at a crucial time as the Hawaiian community tries to determine which path will ensure the political status and welfare of the more than 200,000 people who are descended from the original inhabitants of the Islands.

This Hawai‘i Poll was the most comprehensive survey of Hawaiians ever conducted for The Advertiser, although previous polls on issues affecting the state have included questions on Hawaiian issues.

Getting a clear view of how the community thinks is a crucial need, said Nainoa Thompson, a traditional navigator with the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a University of Hawai‘i regent.

"Are we clear about where the Hawaiian community really wants to go? Getting the pulse of the community is something that really needs to be done."

"Is there a vision that is so powerful ... that we can put aside what we disagree about?" Thompson asked.

Among the areas of broadest agreement on issues revealed by the Hawai‘i Poll were these:

Hawaiians feel wronged by the overthrow of the monarchy, but 72 percent do not want to be separated from the United States. This runs counter to views expressed by some Hawaiian leaders who advocate splitting away from the United States, and is inconsistent with numerous comments from speakers at recent public hearings on reconciliation between the federal government and Native Hawaiians.

By an even stronger majority, 78 percent, Hawaiians believe the United States owes them compensation for the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy.

Thirty-nine percent believe the compensation should come in the form of land, and 37 percent believe it should be in programs to help Hawaiians.

In determining eligibility for programs to benefit Hawai‘i’s native people, 91 percent said all Hawaiians should be eligible, not only those who meet a certain blood quantum requirement.

Twenty-four percent of poll participants who were asked to identify the most important issues facing the Hawaiian community mentioned education; 23 percent mentioned sovereignty and/or issues of self-determination; 21 percent said land.

Thirteen percent said the lack of leadership or a lack of unity was an important issue for the community.

The debate over Native Hawaiian self-determination has become more significant in the wake of February’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling to allow non-Hawaiians to vote in elections for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Although it directly affected only the voting in OHA elections, the Rice vs. Cayetano decision called into question the legality of a number of programs and agencies that benefit Hawaiians.

As a result, Congress is considering legislation to give Native Hawaiians status similar to that of American Indians and Alaskan natives. Most Hawaiians said they support the concept of such legislation.

Poll data

The Hawai‘i Poll was conducted by Ward Research of Honolulu. Pollsters randomly surveyed 401 adult residents of Hawaiian ancestry from April 18-28. The margin of error from the results is 4.9 percent, meaning that 95 percent of the time, if the entire adult Hawaiian population were sampled their responses would be within 4.9 percent plus or minus of those obtained in the poll.

Demographically, poll participants were of varied backgrounds ranging from professionals to blue collar workers, young adults to retirees, and came from all the major islands.

To follow up, The Advertiser contacted a number of Hawai‘i Poll participants to gain further insight about the poll results.

A comparison of results from an Advertiser poll in 1995 showed the positions of Hawaiians have not changed dramatically in five years.

In 1995, 83 percent said they believed Hawaiians were owed reparations for the overthrow of the monarchy. This year, the figure was 78 percent, a comparable number well within the margin of error for both polls.

In both polls, a majority rejected the notion of total independence from the United States. But about a quarter of Hawaiians in both polls supported an independent nation of Hawai‘i. Most would allow only those with Hawaiian blood to be citizens of a Hawaiian nation, whether it is entirely independent or still a part of the United States.

Hawaiians today continue to say they don’t want a king or a queen. As in The Advertiser’s 1995 Hawai‘i Poll, nearly three-quarters of those polled rejected the idea of restoring a Hawaiian monarchy.

To determine which issues were most important to Hawaiians, the poll asked: "In your own words, what would you say is the most important issue currently facing the Hawaiian community?"

Education was cited more frequently than any other issue. It was cited by women most frequently as the most important issue. Men ranked it fourth, tied with homelands and housing issues.

"I think good leadership will come through education," said poll participant Lucinda Clemons, 27, of Pearl City, who is one-quarter Hawaiian.

Clemons said Hawaiian students should study Hawaiian culture, but must have a broad education in other fields as well.

Education a key concern

The survey found a generally well-educated Hawaiian community. More than half of those polled reported having attended at least some college, and a quarter were college graduates. More than 90 percent reported they were high school graduates.

That compares favorably with U.S. Census figures that say more than 80 percent of Hawai‘i residents older than 25 reported having completed high school.

Education resonates among Hawaiians. More than 100 years ago, the literacy level in the Hawaiian nation was ranked among the highest in the world.

"Without education, how can we govern ourselves?" said Dorothy Alo, 66, of Pukalani, Maui, a retired florist and hotel industry worker who participated in the poll.

There were significant differences about the relative importance of issues based on the ages of the respondents.

Hawaiians younger than 35 most often cited sovereignty as their top issue, with land issues close behind.

Hawaiians older than 55 cited the lack of leadership and unity as their first issue, with sovereignty second.

Land issues were listed as the most frequently mentioned issue for those in between, with education second.

Hawaiian public figures

Over the years, those shaping debate in the Hawaiian community have included the leaders of such organizations as Ka Lahui Hawai‘i and OHA, and outspoken activists like Haunani-Kay Trask, Mililani Trask and Dennis "Bumpy" Kanehele, among others.

The poll asked Hawaiians whether they had favorable or unfavorable opinions about a list of people involved in the Hawaiian community.

The poll found that the two public figures most revered in the Hawaiian community are Nainoa Thompson and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, a Democrat who is Hawai‘i’s junior senator.

Seventy-eight percent gave Thompson a favorable rating, and Akaka received favorable ratings from 77 percent.

By comparison, Haunani-Kay Trask’s favorable rating was at 48 percent and Bumpy Kanahele’s at 37 percent.

A year after being removed as Kamehameha Schools trustees, Henry Peters and Richard "Dickie" Wong drew the least favorable ratings among 19 names mentioned, at 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

Many Hawaiians said they believe the lack of leadership and lack of unity is a serious issue.

"That is our downfall. People get hotheaded and don’t give the other side a chance to talk. We cannot contribute if we get angry all the time," said Dorothy Alo.

"I’m an example of pushing sovereignty to the limit, but we’re finding we’re moving in circles," said Kanahele, the 45-year-old leader of the Nation of Hawai‘i organization and co-organizer of a Native Hawaiian bank.

Kanahele gained public prominence as one of the most irascible leaders of the sovereignty movement, but he now sidesteps direct confrontation.

Poll participant Larry Aweau, 80, a retired firefighter and full-blooded Hawaiian, said he is secure that with time, both leadership and unity will develop.

"I think the only answer is taking votes among those who think they are the leaders. I think the smarter ones will prevail," he said.

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