Poll
Three of the five measures that are likely to be on the November 4th ballot are polling with different degrees of voter support, according to a new battery of surveys from Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College.
The new polling of 2,075 likely Arkansas voters was conducted on Wednesday, Oct. 15 and Thursday, Oct. 16. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.2% and includes live cell phone calls and automated landline respondents.
A recent Gallup Poll shows that most Americans favor national referendums on key issues. The poll, conducted July 6-7, tested 3 political issues first promoted by Doctor George Gallup in a 1978 Reader’s Digest article.
More than two-thirds of Americans, 68% of respondents, favored a proposal to “Require a nationwide popular vote on any issue if enough voters signed a petition to request a vote on the issue.”
Smaller majorities favored Gallup’s other ideas: shortening the presidential campaigns to five weeks (61%) and a single national presidential primary day, instead of individual state primaries on various dates (58%).
A poll released today by Citizens in Charge Foundation shows a massive shift among California voters, when they are provided with more accurate information on Proposition 28.
“The polling shows clearly that giving voters more precise information in the ballot title dramatically changes their view on Prop 28. A recent poll using the official ballot title showed better than two-to-one support for the measure, while our poll with a more accurate title showed voters opposing Prop 28 by a nearly two-to-one margin,” said Citizens in Charge Foundation Chairman Michael Foudy.
A June poll conducted by good-government groups found that although voters support bids for more transparency in the initiative proces they strongly oppose those that would give the Legislature more power.
In a recent poll 93% of respondents agreed that the names of petition signers should not be placed in a searchable database on the Internet. In several states organizations are trying to put the names of all people who signed a petition into a searchable database.
Â
Read more: Gay-rights group wants to “out” petition signers
On our last survey we asked, “Do you think public officials should be able to weigh in on ballot initiatives?”
The results were pretty clear, 73% of respondents said Yes, government officials should make their positions known on important issues.
The question arose around story about Alaska’s Governor Palin. Critics were upset at her vocal support for some ballot measures in the state.
Here are some of the comments from the survey:
Recently news has focused on the battle over petitions and the intent of the voter.
Petition and petition circulators are hot button issues in states with the initiative and referendum process (I&R). Each year hundreds of petition gathers (a.k.a. petition circulators) collect thousands of signatures from voters on a large array of issues. And every year thousands are invalidated because of mistakes made by notary, the petition circulator or government official.
By now, most Americans have seen or heard of CNBC’s Rick Santelli and his on-air outburst stating “the government is promoting bad behavior” with the bailouts. (READ MORE) Even President Obama’s Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, invited the CNBC editor to a “decaf” coffee to discuss the issue.