F& M Releases Statewide Poll

Member Group : News Releases

Franklin & Marshall College Poll

The 23rd year of consecutive polling in Pennsylvania
Below are the highlights of the August, 2013, Franklin & Marshall College Poll of Pennsylvania voters. Complete results can be found at http://politics.fandm.edu

• Only one in four voters (26%) think Pennsylvania is headed in the right direction.

• A large majority of voters (76%) find it unacceptable for state and local officials to ignore laws they disagree with, such as issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples in violation of the state law that bans same-sex marriages.

• One in five (17%) registered Pennsylvania voters believes Governor Tom Corbett is doing an "excellent" or "good" job as governor, which is below the ratings he received in the May 2013 Franklin & Marshall College Poll. Only one in three (30%) Republicans rate his performance as "excellent" or "good."

• Only one in five (20%) voters believes Governor Corbett has performed sufficiently well to deserve re-election. Few Democrats (7%) or independent voters (22%) believe he deserves re-election, but, surprisingly, less than half (38%) of Republicans do.

• President Obama’s job performance has declined from the May F&M Poll, falling from 44% to 34%.

• Only 11% of respondents indicate that the state legislature is doing a good job. Less than 1% say the legislature is doing and excellent job, which is the lowest job performance rating for the state legislature since the question was first asked in 1999.

• When asked to choose their priorities from a list of issues being discussed in Harrisburg, most registered voters believe passing a transportation funding plan (29%) or expanding the state’s Medicaid program (24%) should be the top priorities for state lawmakers.

• Nearly one in three (28%) registered voters believe unemployment and the economy is the state’s most important problem, followed closely by schools and school funding (23%).

• Few voters grade the governor’s job performance on improving the economy (15%), creating jobs (15%), or improving public education (11%), as an "A" or "B."

This survey reflect interviews with 594 Pennsylvania registered voters conducted by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College from August 21-26, 2013 (sample error of +/- 4.0 percentage points).

The Franklin & Marshall College Poll is produced in conjunction with the Philadelphia Daily News, WGAL-TV (South Central PA), Pittsburgh Tribune Review, WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh), WPVI-TV6/ABC (Philadelphia), Times-Shamrock Newspapers, Harrisburg Patriot-News/Penn Live, and Lancaster Newspapers. It may be used in whole or in part, provided any use is attributed to Franklin & Marshall College.

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend

Copyright © 2013-Franklin & Marshall College, All rights reserved

Our mailing address is:

Center for Politics and Public Affairs
415 Harrisburg Ave
Lancaster, PA 17603

Phone: 717.291.4052
unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences