Stuart Elway says his latest poll indicates a shift in voter attitude toward deeper budget cuts.
As the economy struggles and state lawmakers make ever deeper cuts in state spending, the proportion of voters saying they want a “cuts-only budget” has shrunk from 37 percent of those surveyed last year to 20 percent this year, said Elway, the president of Elway Research, Inc., an independent Northwest research company.
In addition, 54 percent of the people surveyed in the latest poll said they’d be willing to pay a higher sales tax to stave off more cuts.
That was in response to this question: “The largest portion of state government revenue comes from the sales tax. Would you be willing to pay higher sales tax – say a fraction of a cent – in order to balance the state budget without further deep cuts to programs and services?”
It’s the first time Elway has asked that particular question, so the response can’t be compared to past polls. Still, he said, his polls suggest “this is kind of sinking in to people that there’s no easy way out of this.”
The poll is based on phone interviews with 408 registered voters Sept. 20-21. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
It would take more than a fractional increase in the state’s 6.5 cent sales tax to pull the state out of its current hole. A penny increase would bring in around $1 billion annually.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said she views it as close to a $2 billion gap, given the need to leave money in reserve.
Republicans say they remain opposed to tax increases.
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