December 15, 2010 - Pennsylvania Voters Hopeful For New Governor, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Selling Liquor Stores Is Top Choice To Balance Budget Word format Pennsylvania voters say 59 - 27 percent they are optimistic about the next four years with Governor-elect Tom Corbett at the helm, and 66 - 26 percent back the idea of selling the state's liquor stores to help balance the state budget, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters oppose 52 - 36 percent leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private firm, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University survey finds. And by a 51 - 41 percent margin, voters are okay with laying off state workers to reduce the red ink. Corbett has pledged he will not raise taxes or fees to balance the budget. Voters say 47 - 44 percent they think the pledge is a good idea, but they say 53 - 33 percent he will not be able to keep his pledge. Pennsylvania voters oppose 65 - 32 percent raising taxes to balance the budget. "Pennsylvanians are optimistic that newly-elected governor Tom Corbett will be able to make things better by more than two-to-one, yet they are skeptical that he can deal with the state's budget problems without raising taxes or fees, as he has promised," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Even Democrats are optimistic, 45 - 40 percent, about the future under Corbett." Republicans are most optimistic, 79 - 14 percent, about the next four years under Corbett, while independent voters are optimistic 59 - 25 percent. "Corbett won comfortably because he carried independents and those same independents are giving him the benefit of the doubt as he begins his governorship," said Brown. Sixty percent of Pennsylvania voters see the state's budget problems as "very serious" and another 33 percent see them as "somewhat serious." And by 56 - 30 percent they favor cutting state services rather than raising taxes as the method to deal with the problem. Selling state-owned liquor stores has the most support among various ideas tested, with support pretty much across party lines. The idea is backed by 68 percent of Republicans, 70 percent of independents and 63 percent of Democrats. But laying off state workers gets a more partisan skew with 59 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of independent voters backing the idea, but only 43 percent of Democrats. Those in union households split 44 - 46 percent on state worker layoffs. But the opposition to leasing the turnpike is stronger and relatively bipartisan, with 56 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents and Republicans against the idea. Given a choice of ways to balance the budget: 54 percent of voters support selling the state liquor stores; 17 percent pick leasing the turnpike; 14 percent say lay off state workers; 7 percent say raise taxes. Asked their least favorite solution: 47 percent of voters put raising taxes at the bottom of the list; 28 percent say laying off state workers; 14 percent name leasing the turnpike; 7 percent say selling the liquor stores. "Pennsylvanians do not appear to be ideological on the issue of privatizing state assets. They support selling the liquor stores while they oppose leasing the turnpike," said Brown. "They apparently want the state in the driving business but not the drinking business." From December 6 - 13, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,584 Pennsylvania voters, with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points. The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the nation as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter. 3. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the next four years with Tom Corbett as Governor? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Optimistic 59% 79% 45% 59% 57% 60% 57% Pessimistic 27 14 40 25 30 25 29 DK/NA 14 6 15 16 13 14 14 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Optimistic 64% 46% 59% 58% 60% 65% 60% Pessimistic 27 36 19 31 31 22 26 DK/NA 9 18 23 11 9 13 14 11. In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in Pennsylvania today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Very satisfied 2% 2% 4% 1% 3% 2% 3% Smwht satisfied 35 29 42 33 37 33 36 Smwht dissatisfied 37 39 35 38 34 40 35 Very dissatisfied 25 30 17 26 25 24 25 DK/NA 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Very satisfied 3% 5% 1% 3% 2% - 2% Smwht satisfied 33 44 38 41 31 26 30 Smwht dissatisfied 35 33 38 39 36 38 38 Very dissatisfied 28 17 23 16 31 34 28 DK/NA 2 - - 1 - 2 2 TREND: In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in Pennsylvania today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied? (*Low also 39% Sep 2009) VERY+SMWHT.... High Low Dec 15 Jul 13 Apr 8 Mar 3 Dec 17 Jun 5 Mar 3 2010 2010 2010 2010 2009 2002 2010* Very satisfied 2 3 4 2 4 8 2 Smwht satisfied 35 37 42 37 38 60 37 Smwht dissatisfied 37 38 34 37 38 22 37 Very dissatisfied 25 21 19 23 19 8 23 DK/NA 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 12. How serious do you think Pennsylvania's budget problems are very serious, somewhat serious, not too serious, or not at all serious? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Very serious 60% 63% 58% 60% 62% 59% 53% Smwht serious 33 32 36 32 31 36 39 Not too serious 4 4 5 4 6 3 6 Not at all serious 1 - - 1 1 - - DK/NA 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 TREND: How serious do you think Pennsylvania's budget problems are - very serious, somewhat serious, not too serious, or not at all serious? Dec 15 Feb 20 2010 2003 Very serious 60 32 Smwht serious 33 55 Not too serious 4 7 Not at all serious 1 1 DK/NA 1 5 13. To balance the state budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer; raising taxes or cutting government programs and services? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Raising taxes 30% 13% 46% 27% 27% 32% 30% Cutting services 56 77 38 59 61 52 54 DK/NA 14 9 16 14 12 16 16 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Raising taxes 37% 46% 30% 35% 23% 15% 23% Cutting services 47 37 53 53 63 71 64 DK/NA 16 17 17 11 13 14 13 TREND: To balance the state budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer raising taxes or cutting government programs and services? Dec 15 Feb 20 2010 2003 Raising taxes 30 29 Cutting services 56 57 DK/NA 14 14 14. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - layoffs for state employees? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Support 51% 59% 43% 53% 53% 49% 44% Oppose 41 34 50 37 39 42 46 DK/NA 9 8 7 9 8 9 10 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Support 57% 35% 56% 51% 50% 53% 51% Oppose 36 59 35 42 35 42 39 DK/NA 7 6 9 7 15 6 10 15. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - leasing the Pennslyvania turnpike to a private company? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Support 36% 39% 33% 36% 37% 36% 36% Oppose 52 50 56 50 55 49 55 DK/NA 12 11 11 13 8 16 9 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Support 38% 34% 34% 44% 21% 36% 37% Oppose 48 61 55 41 69 53 49 DK/NA 15 6 11 15 9 11 14 16. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - selling off the state liquor stores? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Support 66% 68% 63% 70% 68% 64% 62% Oppose 26 26 31 23 27 26 32 DK/NA 8 6 6 7 5 10 6 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Support 69% 59% 59% 77% 63% 65% 64% Oppose 22 33 30 19 30 27 28 DK/NA 9 8 11 4 7 8 9 17. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - raising taxes? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Support 32% 17% 44% 34% 33% 31% 38% Oppose 65 82 53 62 64 66 58 DK/NA 3 2 3 4 3 3 4 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Support 31% 44% 38% 40% 22% 19% 28% Oppose 64 55 56 59 73 76 71 DK/NA 5 1 6 1 5 4 1 18. If you had to make a choice to help balance the state budget, which would you choose; leasing the turnpike, selling the state liquor stores, laying off state workers or raising taxes? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Lease turnpike 17% 18% 19% 14% 16% 19% 20% Sell liquor stores 54 54 52 57 50 56 55 Lay off state wrkrs 14 20 10 15 16 13 9 Raise taxes 7 2 12 6 10 5 7 DK/NA 7 6 7 7 8 7 9 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Lease turnpike 15% 21% 14% 18% 10% 21% 20% Sell liquor stores 54 54 51 59 55 47 52 Lay off state wrkrs 14 10 18 12 17 17 15 Raise taxes 10 12 6 6 9 3 6 DK/NA 6 3 12 5 9 12 7 19. And which would you be most opposed to; leasing the turnpike, selling the state liquor stores, laying off state workers or raising taxes? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Lease turnpike 14% 11% 14% 14% 16% 11% 13% Sell liquor stores 7 7 9 5 9 5 7 Lay off state wrkrs 28 19 36 26 27 29 36 Raise taxes 47 59 36 49 44 49 42 DK/NA 5 4 4 5 4 5 3 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Lease turnpike 16% 19% 16% 14% 8% 10% 12% Sell liquor stores 6 8 8 3 15 5 8 Lay off state wrkrs 20 39 27 35 21 19 28 Raise taxes 55 31 43 44 49 58 48 DK/NA 3 3 7 4 7 8 4 20. Governor-elect Tom Corbett has pledged that in trying to balance the state's budget deficit that he will not raise taxes or fees. Do you think Tom Corbett should have made this pledge or not? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Yes 47% 64% 36% 43% 46% 48% 44% No 44 26 60 46 46 43 49 DK/NA 9 10 4 11 9 9 7 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Yes 51% 42% 39% 46% 51% 59% 44% No 44 50 50 48 34 33 44 DK/NA 5 7 11 6 15 8 12 21. Do you think Tom Corbett will be able to keep his campaign pledge or not? Union Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds Yes 33% 47% 24% 32% 37% 31% 28% No 53 40 65 52 52 53 59 DK/NA 14 14 11 15 11 16 13 Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl Yes 35% 33% 29% 32% 29% 45% 33% No 51 53 49 60 59 42 52 DK/NA 13 14 22 8 12 13 14
