Fifty years since President Dwight Eisenhower signed the proclamation officially welcoming Hawai'i to the United States, nearly two-thirds of Hawai'i residents feel that statehood has been positive overall for Hawai'i, according to a Zogby International survey.

Other responses to the online survey, conducted this month, were almost evenly divided: 13 percent said statehood was negative for Hawai'i; 11 percent said it was neither negative nor positive; and 12 percent said they were not sure.

Complete results from the survey will be presented by Zogby International founder and president John Zogby at today's "New Horizons for the Next 50 Years," a wide-ranging, all-day conference at the Hawai'i Convention Center commemorating 50 years of Hawai'i statehood.

The poll surveyed 506 adult Hawai'i residents from each major island who were drawn from a large representative sampling. Participants were invited via e-mail to participate in the poll, which was conducted via a secure Web site. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

Zogby, author of the 2008 book "The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream," said the results of the statehood-impact question roughly correspond to those of another question about the impact of the recent economic downturn.

"No matter how much growth has been achieved (since statehood) and how positive it has been, there are some who do not enjoy the benefits," Zogby said. "It's the same everywhere you go. Some are born on the dark side of the moon and the sun doesn't shine there."

He said political ideology was a likely factor in the results.

Response to the poll question is considered significant because while local support for statehood has been disputed by various groups, quantitative evidence to support these claims has proved elusive.

In the June 27, 1959, statehood plebiscite, 94.3 percent of voters favored immediate statehood. However, Hawaiian activists and others opposed to continued statehood have argued that a silent majority of residents were either opposed to or ambivalent about joining the union.

Recent research and analysis by Hawai'i Statehood project director Arnie Saiki has put the plebiscite results into broader context, revealing among other things that only 35 percent of all eligible Hawai'i voters actively sought statehood.

The Zogby survey, commissioned by the state, is believed to be the first comprehensive and scientific examination of local attitudes regarding statehood. Of the 506 residents who responded to the survey, only 46 percent were born in Hawai'i.

"I think this shows the dynamism of the population of Hawai'i," Zogby said. "It's an indication that in many ways this is the future of the United States — and to a large degree, although less dramatically, the past of the United States.

"For those of us on the Mainland, who tend to think of mobility in terms of Florida, California, North Carolina or Arizona, it reminds in a sense that we better not forget what's going on here."

The poll also asked respondents to what degree they or their immediate families have felt the impact of the global economic downturn.

Nearly 70 percent said they or their families were "severely" (19 percent) or "somewhat" (50 percent) impacted, while less than 30 percent said they were impacted "minimally" (23 percent) or "not at all" (6 percent).

Zogby said that while national polls phrased the question differently — asking whether respondents were "helped" or "hurt" by the economy — the results roughly comport with findings in other areas of the United States.

"Despite a better-than-average economy and an unemployment rate that is almost like nowhere else (in a positive sense), there still clearly is an impact here," he said.

Zogby's presentation today will include observations on national topics such as the rise of secular spirituality, the emergence of a generation of global citizens and attitudes on sustainability, as well as results from the Hawai'i statehood poll. Zogby will also discuss results from polls examining Mainland attitudes about Hawai'i in relation to other states.