A new survey found that January’s wildfires have bolstered support for taxes to improve wildfire response in Los Angeles County.
The Quality of Life survey in L.A. County, conducted by UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, found that 41% of residents would be somewhat willing to pay higher taxes to improve wildfire response in the county, while 11% were very willing. Meanwhile, 28% said they were not willing at all, while 18% said they were not too willing.
Zev Yaroslavsky helped with the survey. He told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener that 41% people of L.A. County know somebody who lost their home in the wildfire, and 14% of the people we surveyed said they lost income because of the fire.
“It affected everybody in every geography, in every ethnicity, in every income bracket in Los Angeles, every demographic you can think of,” he said. “Political leaders need to understand that people are angry. They're scared. They've been scarred.”
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The survey also found that 49% of residents found L.A. Mayor Karen Bass unfavorable. Last year, it was 32%, and in 2023, it was 23%.
The survey interviewed 1,400 L.A. County residents from Feb. 23 through Mar. 9.
You can view the survey in its entirety here.
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