Elway Poll Legislature 010614

©THE ELWAY POLL 6 JAN 15 6 JANUARY 2015 © THE ELWAY POLL 2014. Excerpts may be quoted with attribution. For the ﬁrst me in seven years, the economy was not named by voters as the most important issue of the upcoming legislave session. A combinaon of an improving economic outlook and a Supreme Court mandate has moved educaon into the top spot on the public agenda. Some 42% of the 502 voters in last week’s Elway Poll volunteered educaon as the “most important issue” for the legislature to focus on this year. That improving economic outlook may also be opening the door to consideraon of a wider range of possible strategies for funding than has been the case of late, including new taxes. Transportaon, the other big issue on the legislature’s plate, moved up to fourth place behind perennial issue of “taxes.” The proporon of respondents who cited transportaon doubled over last year to 17%. If combined, “taxes,” “budget” and “spending” would be in second place w ith 34% of respondents. STATE BUDGET PRIORITIES Of course, the fundamental issue of the session will be the state budget, which is hard enough without contempt citaons from the Supreme Court. Then voters added their own educa on mandate by passing the class size ini ave in November. The current state budget is about $34 billion. The two educa on mandates could add $3 to $4 billion to the budget. Or more, depending on who is counng. A government budget—devised in a cauldron of con ﬂicng interests and values—is an intricate docu- ment, comprised of myriad inter-related details and nuance outside the aenon of everyday cizens. A public survey on the budget, therefore, is an indicator of the values context in which the debate will take place. This survey indicates where voters begin the debate, not where they will e nd up. Budget wri ng comes down to cung programs and/or raising taxes. As usual, most voters don’t want to do either. To be fair to the voters, most legislators probably don’t want to do either. The essence of public opinion was probably captured in response to a ques on about how to deal with the educaon mandates. Two-thirds of respondents said an acceptable soluon would be “Do(ing) as much as possible to fund educaon and reduce class sizes without raising taxes and without deep cuts to other programs -- even if that means we do not fully implement the educaon mandates.” Education Tops Public Agenda for Legislative Session Most Voters Open to Discussion of New Taxes “MOST IMPORTANT” ISSUE FOR THE LEGISLATURE 2005-2015 Figures are percentages who named an issue in that category. Shading indicates top- ranked issue for each year. Cell Entries = % 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 Education 42 19 22 27 14 11 15 20 31 23 23 Economy 32 46 43 59 44 49 43 18 15 16 24 Taxes 19 14 12 13 12 10 6 15 11 17 17 Transportation 17 8 2 5 5 2 10 33 20 20 10 Budget Spending 15 17 24 42 30 25 23 7 12 18 24 Environment 6 2 2 * 1 2 1 6 5 4 4 Health Care 7 11 4 12 13 14 10 16 13 15 16 Public Safety 4 1 * * 1 5 1 3 3 5 2 Social Services 3 4 5 4 3 6 9 5 4 8 8 Energy 1 1 1 * * 1 2 4 2 4 *

Elway Poll Legislature 010614

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