(The Center Square) – Recently released polling on the Washington initiatives to the ballot indicate voters may not be in the mood to support three of the four measures. Backers of the initiatives aren’t swayed by the results, adding that language included by Attorney General Bob Ferguson paints a partisan pall over the measures.
The SurveyUSA poll was conducted online Oct. 9-14 and was sponsored by The Seattle Times, KING 5 and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public.
Initiative 2109 to eliminate the capital gains tax is polling to fail. The measure to allow workers to opt out of the mandatory long-term care payroll tax, Initiative 2124, may also come up short based on the recent poll. It shows 55% of voters would reject I-2109, while 27% said they would vote for it. Eighteen percent were undecided. Forty-nine percent of voters in the poll said they would vote against I-2124, with 28% saying they would vote yes and 23% were undecided.
“That is a little disconcerting, but it’s because of Attorney General Ferguson’s ballot language, which we knew would be a problem,” said Hallie Balch with Let’s Go Washington, the group behind the initiative efforts.