Saturday, May 2, 2015

Examiner.com article on Proposal 1 polling

Proposal 1 to raise Michigan's sales tax one percent to fix the state's roads is behind in the polls 61% to 29%.
Image from the Detroit Free Press.
Michigan's Proposal 1 trailing by huge margin in final poll before election
A poll released Friday evening showed that opponents of Proposal 1, which would increase the sales tax by one percent to fund improvements to the state's roads and trigger ten other laws if passed, still outnumber proponents among likely voters in Tuesday's election by more than two to one.  The survey of 600 likely voters conducted by EPIC-MRA found that sixty-one percent of those responding said they would vote against the measure, in contrast to only twenty-nine percent saying they would vote in favor.  Those indicating they would vote no increased to sixty-four percent when the language of the ballot measure was read to them.

The implications of the poll on the prosposal's prospects were summed up by EPIC-MRA President Bernie Porn, who was quoted by the Detroit Free Press as saying "The proposal is obviously on life support--there's no other way of saying it."  Porn was quoted by MLive as saying of the measure's backers "They have a very high hill to climb, and they have a very short time in which to do it."

The top four reasons those indicating a vote of no gave were that there was too much in the proposal (31%), they were against the tax increase because taxes were too high already (22%), they thought it would be wasteful government spending (13%), and they distrusted Michigan's government, including Governor Rick Snyder (11%).  A majority (53%) of those favoring the proposal said that roads needed repair.  Other reasons included education funding (16%), funding needed in general (6%), and roads, schools, and the rest of state government needed funding (4%).
Click on the link in the headline to read about the approval ratings of Governor Snyder and the Michigan legislature along with some more darkly hilarious quotes from Bernie Porn.

Continue to stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment entry and the Monthly Meta.

2 comments:

  1. Boom ching a linga ding. Are teeth rattling? I'm not there and don't know how bad the roads are. We need your opinion on this one Pinku. Is a cabal of high end of gas shock absorber manufacturers spending funny money behind the scenes. What gives?

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    1. The roads, streets, and bridges are bad. All the ways into my main worksite are pockmarked with potholes, for starters. As for the people spending money, it's actually the construction companies contributing a lot of dough to support a Yes vote. The No on 1 people are much less well funded, but they have more popular support.

      For more analysis, read my other Examiner.com article, Washtenaw County politicians divided along party lines on Proposal 1.

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