57/34 public opposition to NJ Governor's tollroads plan - PublicMind poll
Posted Tue, 2008-01-22 12:09
Governor Jon Corzine is not close to winning public support for his radical public toll concession plan, according to a new opinion poll. The poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind opinion polling outfit was conducted by telephone from Jan 14 thru 21 using a random sample of 927 registered voters. The poll has a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.
It shows 57% opposed to 34% supportive. Opposition has actually increased - from 50% - since the Governor unveiled details in his Jan 7 state of the state speech. The plan allows a new public
concessionaire corporation to make up to four 50% toll increases over 12 years from 2010 at four year intervals, and would index those toll rates against inflation as well.
The scheme is intended to raise some $35b about half of which would be used to pay down state debt.
Despite the prominence of the toll issue overall support for the Governor's job performance is 44/36.
Of course Gov Corzine's most important political job is to persuade legislators of the validity of his toll scheme. They are the ones who will vote, or not vote, enabling legislation. But many legislators take their stance on issues like this from their reading of public opinion.
Corzine is giving more than twenty talks on his plan at public meetings around the state.
TOLLROADSnews 2008-01-22
Governor Jon Corzine is not close to winning public support for his radical public toll concession plan, according to a new opinion poll. The poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind opinion polling outfit was conducted by telephone from Jan 14 thru 21 using a random sample of 927 registered voters. The poll has a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.It shows 57% opposed to 34% supportive. Opposition has actually increased - from 50% - since the Governor unveiled details in his Jan 7 state of the state speech. The plan allows a new public
concessionaire corporation to make up to four 50% toll increases over 12 years from 2010 at four year intervals, and would index those toll rates against inflation as well.The scheme is intended to raise some $35b about half of which would be used to pay down state debt.
Despite the prominence of the toll issue overall support for the Governor's job performance is 44/36.
Of course Gov Corzine's most important political job is to persuade legislators of the validity of his toll scheme. They are the ones who will vote, or not vote, enabling legislation. But many legislators take their stance on issues like this from their reading of public opinion.
Corzine is giving more than twenty talks on his plan at public meetings around the state.
TOLLROADSnews 2008-01-22