A statewide telephone survey of over 1,500 household heads in 58 Massachusetts cities and towns, conducted soon after the passage of Proposition 2 1/2 in November 1980, sought to discover why voters favored the law and what public services they wanted. Proposition 2 1/2 not only restricted Massachusetts property taxes but also reduced automobile excise taxes, allowed deductions for rent from taxable income, removed school committees' fiscal autonomy, and altered other government practices. This document presents the survey results in five sections. Section 1 relates voters' knowledge and expectations about Proposition 2 1/2 to their desires for changes in government services in order to explain the vote. Survey results are analyzed by community in section 2 and compared to Boston residents' views. Section 3 uses multivariate analysis to examine the effects of several public policy issues, such as tax reform and government inefficiency, on voters' expectations and preferences. Section 4 turns to the same methodology to analyze the effects of community fiscal and demographic characteristics and of respondents' attitudes toward government. The final section discusses the way attitudes toward education affected the vote. Three appendices present the questionnaire and further methodological information. (Author/RW)