Williamsville residents overwhelmingly oppose the idea of dissolving the village and would vote down any effort to do so, according to a local poll conducted last week.

The poll of 300 village residents, conducted by Buffalo-based Barry Zeplowitz and Associates, suggests that downsizing advocate Kevin Gaughan could face his first failure in his efforts to shrink governing boards and dissolve village governments.

“There is a very hard-core group of people who are strongly opposed,” Zeplowitz said. “I think it’s a reflection of a village that is together much more as a community than many other parts of the county that are considering either downsizing or dissolving.”

In response to the question, “Would you vote to dissolve the village or vote against dissolving the village,” 75 percent of respondents stated that they are against the idea, or leaning against the idea.

Moreover, of those who are against the idea, 87 percent said nothing would change their minds.

Gaughan responded that the polling question posed to residents was incorrectly stated, resulting in an inaccurate response. His effort isn’t to dissolve the village, but rather to dissolve village government, he said.

“[The poll] fell into the trap of politicians who are trying to convince residents that a village is a government,” he said. “A village isn’t a government, a village is a community. Mr. Zeplowitz asked the wrong question. I would suggest that he go back and ask the proper question.”

Zeplowitz, who heads the well-known political polling firm, said he stands by his findings. The poll reached into one of every seven households within village boundaries. “The fact is that when this question was asked, people knew what we were talking about,” he said.

The poll had a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points. It was not commissioned by anyone, Zeplowitz said, but rather done to fill 1z hours of time last Thursday and satisfy his curiosity as an Amherst resident.

Gaughan said the poll results reflect an aggressive effort by politicians to wrongfully portray his efforts as harmful to the village.

“There hasn’t been one word uttered in serious debate about the merits or drawbacks of dissolving village government,” he said. “All that’s happened so far has been the frantic hysteria of village politicians attempting to discourage residents from examining this issue.”

He added, “My challenge is to show village residents that they can retain excellent services and their identity while shedding village government.”

One of the poll questions asked how familiar residents were with Gaughan. The results showed only 12 percent said they didn’t know who he was, and those who are aware of him don’t have a very favorable opinion.

For every one resident who had a positive opinion of Gaughan, two had a negative opinion. Those kinds of numbers would be “deadly” to a political candidate, Zeplowitz said.

Gaughan responded that village leaders are wrongly telling people that he’s out to hurt their quality of life.

“Barry’s numbers reflect a concerted effort by Williamsville politicians telling residents that I’m going to take away their services,” he said, “and nothing could be further from the truth.”