Oct 6, 2008 12:08 pm US/Central
Poll: Most Favor Funding For Outdoors, Arts
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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Fifty-nine percent of the respondents said they planned to vote for the amendment, while 32 percent said they'd vote no, according to the poll published Monday. (File)
CBS
Most Minnesotans favor a constitutional amendment to provide more money for the outdoors, the environment and the arts, even though many know little about what the proposal would actually do, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.
Fifty-nine percent of the respondents said they planned to vote for the amendment, while 32 percent said they'd vote no, according to the poll published Monday. Not voting on the question will count as a no vote on Election Day.
The poll also shows that 40 percent of those surveyed acknowledge they have heard nothing about the details of the proposal, which would authorize a statewide 3/8 of 1 percent sales-tax increase. Just 10 percent of those responding said they had seen or heard "a lot" about the amendment, while 49 percent said they had heard "some" or "only a little" about it.
The survey of 1,084 likely voters conducted was over three days ending last Thursday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
The Department of Revenue estimates the amendment would cost an average Minnesota household $60 a year.
Ken Martin, campaign manager for Vote Yes, the group pushing for the amendment, told the Star Tribune that the poll reflected the campaign's own polling and that the percentage of voters who had not heard of the amendment's details was dwindling.
"We're getting a sense both on the phones and (while knocking on) doors, and clearly in polling like this, that people are very supportive," he said.
The Vote Yes campaign, which hopes to raise as much as $5 million to campaign for the amendment, unveiled its first TV ads last week.
Opponents of the amendment told the newspaper the poll's findings were surprising, and appeared to show a significant shift in favor of the proposal from earlier polling.
"When you actually ask a question that has a tax increase in it, I'm surprised that people are saying they would vote for it," said Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. "We've got a lot more work to do."
The league says the amendment, which would raise roughly $276 million annually for 25 years, is another tax increase Minnesotans can't afford at a time of high gas prices and a struggling economy. Other critics also say the measure attempts to sidestep the Legislature in determining spending priorities.
Under the proposal, 33 percent of the money would go to clean water projects; 33 percent would be distributed to game, fish and wildlife habitat endeavors; 19.75 percent would go to arts and culture projects and 14.25 percent would go toward parks and trails.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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