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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Poll: Ohio voters oppose tax hike; don’t believe Kasich’s “no-tax” pledge
Ohio voters oppose raising taxes to balance the state budget, but they don’t believe new Republican Gov. John Kasich will be able to keep his no-take hike pledge, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
Voters oppose a tax hike, 61-34 percent, but say by a 58-28 percent spread that they don’t believe Kasich can keep his promise not to raise taxes.
Also, they say, 50-42 percent, that Kasich shouldn’t have made the pledge.
Nearly half - 48 percent - are undecided about how he’s doing the job he began on Jan. 10. 30 percent approve and 22 percent disapprove.
Overall, however, they’re more optimistic than pessimistic, 59-29 percent, about the next four years with Kasich in office.
On an issue that’s already rising to the top of the Statehouse agenda, voters appear cool to Kasich’s proposals to limit the ability of state and local government workers to bargain collectively.
By a 51-34 percent spread, they say it’s a bad idea.
Also, they say, 51-36 percent, that eliminating the estate tax - another Kasich proposal, backed strongly by Republican legislators - is a bad idea.
They’re clearly with the governor on no tax hikes for the state budget, however. By a 53-32 percent spread, they say they would rather cut services than raise taxes to balance the budget.
They’re aware of budget problems.
Ninety six percent say the budget problems are “very serious” or somewhat serious”, with the state facing a revenue shortfall estimated at $8 billion or higher.
Ohio voters, however, oppose a number of possibilities for balancing the state budget:
*46-43 percent against laying off state workers.
*51-30 percent against leasing the Ohio Turnpike to a private company.
*51-33 percent against hiring a private company to run state prisons.
“For the most part, Ohioans are not receptive to a number of proposals that would cut spending or sell state assets as a way to balance the budget,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
“Gov. Kasich has a serious selling job on his hands when it comes to convincing the people of Ohio on the wisdom of his ideas.”
The poll was taken Jan. 12 through Monday, Jan. 17, with 1,299 registered voters statewide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. Live interviewers made the calls to land lines and cell phones.
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