More poll results: minimum wage good, gas tax bad, Speaker Black...
Yet more results from the Elon Poll, this set focusing on North Carolina issues.
Among the results:
- 78 percent of respondents to this survey agreed or strongly agreed that an increase in the minimum wage was needed. That tracks pretty well with other poll data that we've seen.
- Tar heels are all over the map on Speaker Black. Oddly enough, I think the most significant number in that part of the survey may be the 31 percent of respondents who didn't know enough to answer whether they had confidence in him or not. That tells me that the Speaker's troubles are far from achieving universal penetration in the public consciousness.
- 60 percent of North Carolinians favor changing the state's gas tax law so it doesn't rise and fall with fuel prices.
Click here to download the whole poll result.
And now for a nickel’s 2.8-cents worth of political analysis:
On that last question I mentioned, only 8 percent agreed with getting rid of the gas tax totally. That second number reinforces a notion I’ve had for a while: the gas tax may sound like a good campaign issue but it’s not.
For better or worse, the most effective campaign issues are simple (we will do X, we will get rid of Y). This poll pretty clearly says promising to get rid of the tax altogether isn’t a good move. So a candidate would be stuck saying, here’s how I’d change the tax. That strikes me as a pretty nuanced sort of pitch.
That could fly for the primaries where your audience are the most politically conscious and active voters. But the Republicans have been talking up the gas tax as if it might be a potential wedge issue come fall.
The general election has a broad audience, and I’m not sure a line that says, “we’re going to CHANGE the way we tax gasoline,” is the most effective way to go. I guess a candidate could pledge to stop INCREASES in the gas tax, but given the increments involved (2.8 cents a gallon last time), that doesn’t seem to be the strongest rallying point.
But maybe I’m wrong…in fact, I’m sure my GOP-leaning friends and colleagues would say I am. Have your say in the comments section below.
Comments (1)
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I agree, Mark. I don't see the gas tax as a major wedge issue from the standpoint of how high the tax is; but it is potentially a wedge issue from the standpoint of how these revenues are being used. Most voters probably are drivers.
On the Jim Black matter and also the matter of how the gas tax revenues are being diverted, the public would need to be educated by the Republicans in order to elicit a response. This educational process would have to be a part of their political advertising.
Posted on March 7, 2006 4:31 PM