Suddenly, it seems, polls on cross-border relations between San Diego and Tijuana are popular. Last month this column looked at a KPBS/Competitive Edge poll, lamenting that it left too much unanswered.

Richard Kiy, president and chief executive of International Community Foundation, read that column and called to advise us that his foundation had commissioned a similar study and to provide a draft copy. Conducted by Crossborder Business Associates, the results will be released late this month in a report called Blurred Borders. The poll was conducted in English and Spanish in San Diego and in Tijuana. Also set to be released in the next few months is a poll sponsored by Baja California’s secretary of tourism.

This interest in the two regions, and therefore the reasoning behind the polls, is more than academic. Tijuana is Mexico’s fourth largest city, with a population including “transient” residents that nears 2 million and is expected to double by 2020. San Diego County, with a population of 2.8 million today, is expected to reach 3.6 million by 2020. Combined San Diego and Tijuana population will then top 7.5 million.

Many San Diegans want to continue ignoring this fact’s implications for our daily lives. It sounds so much better to just think about the 3.3 million people living on this side of the border in 2020. But, as Blurred Borders’ executive summary states, “the fact remains that the border between San Diego and Tijuana is increasingly becoming blurred, the transboundary impacts and interconnections are becoming ever present and our communities neglect each other at their own peril.”

The relationship already is immensely important.

“The ties that bind both cities in the areas of cross-border trade, commerce, tourism and culture are indisputable, and their combined comparative advantages have contributed to job creation and economic opportunity for people and businesses on both sides of the line,” the report says. “But the interdependencies go beyond trade, commerce, tourism and recreation. Throughout the San Diego-Tijuana border region there are growing interdependencies in the areas of health, human services, education and the environment that require proactive binational solutions and greater cross-border collaboration by the private, public and nonprofit sectors. San Diego and Tijuana also are inextricably tied through interpersonal and family ties with a growing number of San Diegans now living south of the border due to the high cost of housing in San Diego County.”

The ICF’s unprecedented survey uncovered many shared and common interests. The three top issues of importance to San Diegans and Tijuanenses were education/schools, health care, and jobs and the economy. The survey’s results also highlight issues needing greater consensus and cross-border dialogue. For example, terrorism and homeland security are issues of high importance to San Diegans but not to Tijuanenses.

Another survey finding was that 69 percent of San Diego and 68 percent of Tijuana residents felt the border had a positive impact on their community. Less than 15 percent of San Diego residents and only 11 percent of Tijuana residents felt that the border had a negative impact on their community. More than 40 percent of Tijuanenses surveyed claimed family and relatives in the United States, further enforcing the reality of a blurred border.

The poll was conducted in both English and Spanish to create a comparable questionnaire for both sides of the border, and to accommodate San Diegans whose language preference was Spanish.

Not surprisingly, English was the preferred language of 85.4 percent of the 622 people polled on this side of the border. Even in South County, which has the highest concentration of Spanish-speaking residents, 69.6 percent chose English.

The survey revealed that few Tijuanenses were born in Tijuana, and even fewer San Diegans were born in San Diego. Actually, of those surveyed, more were born in Mexico than San Diego.

Only 19.9 percent of San Diegans were born in San Diego, with 21.1 percent born elsewhere in California, 27.7 percent elsewhere in the United States, 23.7 percent in Mexico, and 7.6 percent in countries other than Mexico. Those polled in Spanish found 5.9 percent were native San Diegans, 4.7 percent from other places in California, 2.4 percent from other places in the United States, 83.5 percent from Mexico and 3.5 percent from other countries.

Tijuana is often perceived as a city of non-natives. Of those surveyed, 46.2 percent were natives, 9.5 percent were from other parts of Baja California, 2 percent were U.S. born, 40.8 percent were from other parts of Mexico and 1.5 percent were from other countries.

The poll zeroed in on cross-border visiting habits, asking not only about visits but when the last one took place. Of the 614 respondents in San Diego, 91 percent had visited Mexico with 57.8 percent visiting within the last year.

Another question related to visits was frequency of crossing: Of the San Diego respondents, 4.6 percent crossed daily or almost daily, 7.2 percent crossed one to two times per week, 14.7 percent crossed one to two times a month, 23.2 percent several times a year, 30.2 percent one time per year and 21.1 percent never.

The report reveals that there are about 1.5 million San Diegans who visit Tijuana every year (or thereabouts). And about 530,000 San Diegans visit Tijuana at least once per month.

South County residents are the most frequent visitors to Tijuana, with 47.5 percent visiting once per month or more. And the proportion of San Diegans that “never” visit increases with the distance from the border.

Blurred Borders will bring much to the discussion about the future relationship between San Diego and Tijuana. Additionally, Baja California Secretary of Tourism Alejandro Moreno tells us his office already commissioned Fleishman-Hillard to do an in depth study on the topic. The work is complete and within the next two months the preliminary results will be released.

The relationship between the two communities is complex. The better we understand each other, the better our collective future.

Patrick Osio Jr. can be reached at posiojr@sandiegometro.com. The veteran consultant also has issued The Mexican Perspective, an intensive primer on business culture and protocol. Copies are available at http://www.hispanicvista.com/sales/book_sale.htm.