A POLL FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH
The following are selected parts of an Alaska poll conducted by the legislature in February 2008 (I was not involved). It’s interesting, as all polls are. However, at the 95% confidence level, poll has a margin of error of 4.89%, and was taken only from registered voters who had a listed phone number, not “super voters” most likely to vote. According to the poll preface, the survey “saves the researcher money, to the detriment of . . . client’s desire for accuracy.” 39.5% of the poll respondents were from Anchorage. Furthermore, legislators are elected by districts with widely varying demographics – so potential margin of error likely could be significantly higher within individual districts. Whatever, here are the results, for what its worth:
Question 1 (selected parts) “Are your feelings very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, very negative” (for Blog brevity, I combined the “very” with the “somewhat”).
Gov. Sarah Palin: Positive: 81.3% Negative: 9.2% Neutral: 9.4%
State House: Positive: 53.4% Negative: 20.4% Neutral: 26.1
State Senate: Positive: 54.8% Negative: 22.4% Neutral: 22.8%
Oil Industry: Positive: 60.2% Negative: 25.8% Neutral: 14.1%
Recently, the legislature increased the tax on oil from 22.5 to 25%, and made other upward adjustments.
Question 25: Do you think the new law to tax the oil industry went too far, just right, or not enough?
Too far: 21 Just right: 47.8% Not enough: 20.1% Don’t know: 11.0% (note: if “Just right” and “not enough” are combined, the higher tax would be favored by 67.9%).
Question 9: Most important issue for the legislature to be working on:
Top 10 in order of priority (1st and 2nd priorities combined):
Building the gas pipeline 38.2%, K-12 public education 24.1%, health care 20.4%, balancing the budget 14.6%, mining and fisheries issues 11.8%, crime and public safety 11.3%, long range fiscal plan 10.8%, energy and heating costs 10.1%, ethics reform 9.0%, PERS/STRS retirement funding7.2%.
Question 32: Should Pebble Mine environmental studies go forward to determine if mine could be developed in a responsible manner?
Favor: 78.6% Oppose: 17.9% Don’t know: 3.5%
Question 33: Political party affiliation
Republican: 31.9% Democrat: 19.8% Non-partisan/Undeclared: 44.7%
Question 1 (selected parts) “Are your feelings very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, very negative” (for Blog brevity, I combined the “very” with the “somewhat”).
Gov. Sarah Palin: Positive: 81.3% Negative: 9.2% Neutral: 9.4%
State House: Positive: 53.4% Negative: 20.4% Neutral: 26.1
State Senate: Positive: 54.8% Negative: 22.4% Neutral: 22.8%
Oil Industry: Positive: 60.2% Negative: 25.8% Neutral: 14.1%
Recently, the legislature increased the tax on oil from 22.5 to 25%, and made other upward adjustments.
Question 25: Do you think the new law to tax the oil industry went too far, just right, or not enough?
Too far: 21 Just right: 47.8% Not enough: 20.1% Don’t know: 11.0% (note: if “Just right” and “not enough” are combined, the higher tax would be favored by 67.9%).
Question 9: Most important issue for the legislature to be working on:
Top 10 in order of priority (1st and 2nd priorities combined):
Building the gas pipeline 38.2%, K-12 public education 24.1%, health care 20.4%, balancing the budget 14.6%, mining and fisheries issues 11.8%, crime and public safety 11.3%, long range fiscal plan 10.8%, energy and heating costs 10.1%, ethics reform 9.0%, PERS/STRS retirement funding7.2%.
Question 32: Should Pebble Mine environmental studies go forward to determine if mine could be developed in a responsible manner?
Favor: 78.6% Oppose: 17.9% Don’t know: 3.5%
Question 33: Political party affiliation
Republican: 31.9% Democrat: 19.8% Non-partisan/Undeclared: 44.7%
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 2:07 PM
1 Comments:
Though the poll is likely skewed, it is still sad to see the anti-business and pro unaccountable-school funding displayed in its results.
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