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Oct 9, 2008 9:30 am US/Central
Poll Shows Voters Split On Outdoors Amendment
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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Forty-six percent of those polled by telephone last week favored the amendment and 36 percent opposed it.
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A new poll shows a split among voters on a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the sales tax to fund outdoors and arts programs.
The Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute poll shows a plurality of likely voters support the proposal, but that might not be enough to pass it.
Forty-six percent of those polled by telephone last week favored the amendment and 36 percent opposed it. Nine percent said they didn't plan to vote on the question, and 10 percent were undecided.
Since not voting on the question counts as a no vote, the 9 percent who said they'll skip the question are in effect joining the 36 percent who plan to vote "no," said pollster Larry Jacobs.
"It appears that the Minnesota electorate is not sufficiently supportive of this amendment to pass at this point," said Jacobs, director of the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.
The poll of 766 likely voters has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The amendment would raise the state sales tax by three-eighths of a cent for the next 25 years and dedicate the money to clean water projects, wildlife habitat, parks and trails and the arts.
Ken Martin, campaign manager for Vote Yes Minnesota, said the group is working hard to make sure voters don't skip over the amendment question.
"We know that there's a lot of work to do in the next 27 days," he said. "And we need to make sure frankly on this kind of issue we need to make sure that people are aware that this is on the ballot and to look for it if they care about this and want to support it."
Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, said he expects voters to turn against the measure when they understand its wide scope.
"The Vote Yes people are only talking about the clean water," he said. "They're only talking about wildlife habitat, natural resources. They're not talking about the arts. They're not talking about the tax increase. They're not talking about the 25 years."
The poll also examined which party voters prefer to be in charge of the state House, where all 134 seats are on the line.
The poll said 45 percent of respondents said they would vote for a DFL candidate, compared to 34 percent who favored Republicans. At the same time, respondents showed comfort with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who earned a 61 percent approval rating.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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