Poll: Most Pa. voters feel state ‘on wrong track’
Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters are disenchanted with the state and a majority of them still blame the Legislature for the budget impasse, according to a new poll released Thursday.
The Franklin & Marshall College poll found that 62 percent of registered voters questioned said that the state is “on the wrong track,” up from 54 percent in an August survey by the Lancaster County college. Only 26 percent said the state is “headed in the right direction.”
Sixty-two percent is the highest percentage to agree that the state is “on the wrong track” since the same number said so in January 2014.
That disenchantment with the direction of the state is starting to affect Gov. Tom Wolf’s job performance rating, pollsters noted. Wolf had 36 percent of voters say he was doing an “excellent” or “good” job in the latest poll, down from 39 percent in August.
At the same time, 32 percent blamed Wolf for the lack of a state budget, up from 29 percent in August. Although 51 percent of voters still blame the Legislature for the budget mess that is down from 54 percent two months ago.
Who is at fault, though, hinges greatly on the party affiliation of voters. Nearly three-fourths of Democrats (73 percent) said the GOP-controlled Legislature is more responsible than Wolf while just 24 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of independents said so.
As for taxes, state voters support higher taxes on smokeless tobacco and cigars (71 percent) and natural gas drilling (67 percent), but oppose higher personal income taxes (25 percent) and sales taxes (34 percent).
Indicted Attorney General Kathleen Kane should resign said 51 percent of voters, up from 46 percent in August. Kane faces several criminal charges related to the leaking of grand jury information.
In the 2016 race for the White House, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont 52 to 18 percent among Pennsylvania Democrats. The poll was conducted from Oct. 19 to 25 and Vice President Joe Biden announced Oct. 21 that he would not enter the Democratic primary.
On the Republican side, billionaire businessman Donald Trump (23 percent) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (22 percent) were neck-and-neck among GOP voters.
Rounding out the field was Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (13 percent); Ohio Gov. John Kasich (6 percent); Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (4 percent); former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and businesswoman Carly Fiorina all with 3 percent; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum with 1 percent each.
South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki did not register in the poll. Twenty percent of Republican voters said they had no preferred candidate.
F&M polled 614 registered Pennsylvania voters, including 303 Democrats, 231 Republicans and 80 independents. The margin of error is 3.9 percentage points.