but many
don’t know much about it
Job approvals
for Haslam, Legislature holding steady
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — About a third of Tennessee voters support Gov. Bill
Haslam’s proposal to fund road projects through a plan that would increase fuel
taxes while cutting grocery and other taxes, but fewer oppose it, and many
remain undecided, according to the latest MTSU Poll.
“Support for the
plan is fairly low among voters, but that’s not the whole story,” said Ken
Blake, Ph.D., director of the poll at Middle Tennessee State University. “In a
pattern reminiscent of attitudes toward the governor’s ‘Insure Tennessee’ plan
two years ago, opposition is fairly low as well, many have read or heard little
about the issue and simply have no opinion yet, and support for the plan rises markedly
among those who have the most information about it.”
The
latest MTSU Poll of 600 registered voters was conducted Feb. 12-16 with a
margin of error of 4 percentage points.
In other
findings, 57 percent approve of Haslam’s job performance, 50 percent approve of
the job the Tennessee General Assembly is doing, and about half of state voters
want another Republican to succeed Haslam. By comparison, more like a quarter
would prefer a Democratic governor.
Support mixed for gas tax increase
When the current
poll asked state voters about the governor’s “proposal to pay for road projects
by raising taxes on gas and diesel fuel while cutting other taxes, including
taxes on groceries”:
·
38 percent expressed
support.
·
28 percent were
opposed, a significantly smaller proportion.
·
33 percent said
they weren’t sure.
·
The remaining 1
percent declined to answer.
Support appeared
significantly higher among the 52 percent of state voters who had read or heard
“a lot” or “some” information about the proposal than among the 46 percent who
had read or heard “only a little” or “nothing at all” about it.
Among those who
had read or heard “a lot” or “some” about the proposal:
·
51 percent expressed
support.
·
31 percent said
they opposed it.
·
18 percent said
they didn’t know how they felt about it.
By contrast,
among those who had read or heard “only a little” or “nothing at all about the
proposal:
·
24 percent
expressed support.
·
24 percent said
they opposed it.
·
52 percent said
they didn’t know how the felt about it.
Asking about the
governor’s “Insure Tennessee” health care proposal two years ago, the MTSU Poll
found that support measured 34 percent statewide but rose to 49 percent among
the third of Tennesseans who had heard about the plan. By contrast, support
measured only 26 percent among the two-thirds who had little or no information
about the plan. Ultimately, the plan failed to gain traction in the
Legislature.
Haslam approval holding at solid majority;
Legislature at 50 percent
Fifty-seven
percent of Tennessee voters approve “of the way Bill Haslam is handling his job
as governor,” a figure virtually unchanged from his 58 percent approval ratings
in the Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 editions of the MTSU Poll. Twenty-three
percent express disapproval of the governor, and 19 percent don’t know.
Approval of
Haslam measures 64 percent among Republicans, 60 percent among independents,
and 46 percent among Democrats.
“MTSU Polls
conducted during the administration of Haslam’s Democratic predecessor, Phil
Bredesen, also tended to find relatively high bipartisan approval,” Blake said.
Meanwhile, 50
percent approve of “the way the state Legislature is handing its job,” while 27
percent disapprove, and 22 percent don’t know. The remaining 1 percent declined
to answer. Approval of the Legislature is about the same as it was throughout
2016.
About half of state voters want a Republican as their
next governor
Fifty-one
percent of state voters prefer that the governor elected next year to replace Haslam,
who is in his second and final term, be either a “conservative Republican” (33
percent) or a “moderate Republican” (18 percent).
Approximately a quarter
(23 percent) would like either a “moderate Democrat” (14 percent) or a “progressive
Democrat” (9 percent). Ten percent prefer “something else,” and a sizable 14
percent don’t know. The rest refused to answer.
“A Republican
candidate would enter the race with a pretty stiff tail wind,” Blake said. “But
recent history suggests a moderate from either party can build and maintain a
winning coalition.”
Methodology
Between Feb. 12-16, 2017, Issues & Answers Network Inc. completed 600
telephone surveys for the poll among a random sample of registered Tennessee
voters aged 18 and over. Data were collected using a Tennessee statewide voter
registration sample with 60 percent landlines and 40 percent cell phones. The
average interview length was 13 minutes.
Quotas by gender and Grand Region were implemented. Data were weighted
based on respondent age to ensure the data are representative of Tennessee
registered voters. Landline numbers represent 58 percent of the completed
interviews and 42 percent are from cell phones.
The survey’s margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points, meaning one can
be 95 percent confident that the population percentage being estimated lies
within four percentage points, in either direction, of the result the sample
produced.
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