RIC poll reveals R.I. takes on Obama, travel by gas, E-verify and more
7:21 PM Wed, Jul 02, 2008 | Permalink
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Victor Profughi is at it again. The head of Rhode Island College's Bureau of Government Research and Services released his latest poll yesterday that reports the highest level of discontent among Rhode Islanders in recent memory. As reported in today's Journal, a whopping 83 percent of respondents said the state was moving in the wrong direction. But there was a lot more interesting information in the random survey of 500 Rhode Islanders taken between June 18 and 27. The highlights include (in no particular order): - More respondents (41 percent) blame "Democrats in the state legislature" for the state's fiscal problems than Governor Carcieri (26 percent). Twenty percent blame both. - If the presidential election were held today, 53 percent of Rhode Islanders would vote for Barack Obama; 25 percent chose the Republican presumptive nominee John McCain. - Approximately 59 percent said they were less likely to travel outside Rhode Island by car for on vacation this year compared to last year considering the cost of gasoline; 32 percent said they were just as likely to travel by car. - Seventy-five percent of Rhode Islanders agree with the governor's executive order cracking down on illegal immigrants. The order, according to a vague and rather long survey question, "requires that the Federal E-Verify system be used to screen state workers and employees of companies doing business with the state and directs certain state agencies to work cooperatively with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in enforcing federal immigration laws." - Sixty-six percent of Rhode Islanders are willing to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable resources like the sun or wind energy. - Steve Peoples, Journal State House Bureau And on the state budget front, respondents were asked whether they supported various budget-cutting moves: - 72 percent opposed reducing scholarship funding for needy students. (The cut was approved in the state budget.) - 67 percent supported imposing a two-year time limit on welfare benefits. (Eligibility was cut from five consecutive years to two consecutive years, although there is a lifetime limit of four years.) - 62 percent opposed cutting the number of low-income families eligible to receive state subsidized health care. (Approximately 1,000 adults lost health coverage in the budget.) - 49 percent support repealing the "flat income tax rate that now allows high income taxpayers to pay lower taxes;" 45 percent oppose changing the tax and 7 percent did not know. (The budget passed by the Assembly did not change the tax break.) - 63 percent supported cutting illegal immigrants and their children from state programs such as welfare and subsidized health care (The Assembly has cut all health care for 2,800 non-citizen children. Around 1,250 are here legally.) Profughi reports a 4 percent margin of error in the poll. 
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