Cherokee County residents want Waste Management to build its proposed 3Cycle Environmental Management Center, despite the vocal opposition to the controversial project.

A tracking poll showed overwhelming support for the project, which is expected to come to a Cherokee County Council vote soon.

SCPR Associates, a Columbiabased political polling firm, conducted the poll by contacting by robo-call every phone-matched voting household in the county.

Robo-call polls use a computerized auto dialer and a computerdelivered message.

The question asked county residents was as follows: "Locally, plans were recently announced to build the 3Cycle Cherokee County Environmental Management Center, the nation's first high-tech, state-of-the-art recycling, disposal and environmental management facility. Sponsors say the new industry will create jobs and provide enough revenue to reduce the county's tax burden."

The question made no mention of the proposed landfill, the most controversial aspect of the project.

Forty-one percent of the respondents said they supported the project. Even more - 64.2 percent - favored the project when the undecided respondents were excluded from the poll results.

Support for the project ran high among State House Districts 29 and 30 as well as six of the seven county council districts. Surprisingly, supporters even ran slightly ahead of naysayers in council district No. 5, the site of the proposed recycling center and landfill, by a 36.6 percent to 35.9 margin.

The project also garnered solid support from all demographic sectors, including age, sex, race and political affiliation.

Respondents over age 65 back the project 38.7 percent to 27.2 percent. The project had the strongest support from respondents under age 40, 41.3 percent to 15.6 percent.

Whites and blacks both favor the project. Whites support the project, 41.6 percent to 24.9 percent, while blacks are in favor of the 3Cycle center, 37.2 percent to 6.4 percent.

Both men and women backed the project by roughly 2-1.

There was a sharp contrast on party affiliation. Respondents, who classified themselves as Democrats, favored the project, 39.9 percent to 20.2 percent, while Republicans support the project by significantly closer margin of 38.4 percent to 31.1 percent.

CLOUT (Cherokee Landfill Opposition United Together) spokesperson Joan Wheeler claimed the question was biased in favor of Waste Management.

"I don't think it was a fair question," she said.

Sissy Brock, spokesperson for the pro-Waste Management group known as C.A.S.E. (Cherokee Advocates for a Environment and Economy), disagreed, saying the poll reflects the feelings of the "silent majority" of county residents.

"They have stated they are in favor of this," she said.

The tracking poll of 911 respondents was conducted in mid-October.