OLYMPIA – A new statewide poll released Wednesday shows that initiatives to enhance private property rights and repeal Washington’s estate tax are trailing by wide margins while a measure pushing alternative energy is leading.
While most voters are making up their minds on the complex initiatives many cannot decide on a choice in a contested race for the state Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens leads challenger Stephen Johnson by 7 percentage points with 31 percent still undecided.
“It’s a sign people are confused about it,” said Fawn Spady, campaign manager for Johnson, who is a Republican state senator.
“It’s a hard one for voters to hear about” because there are not a lot of television ads and media coverage, she said.
The phone survey of 700 registered voters was conducted Oct. 25-31 by the Washington Poll, a nonpartisan, academic research project of the University of Washington’s Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race &Sexuality. The margin of error is 3.7 percent.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell leads Republican challenger Mike McGavick 53 percent to 41 percent. It is a greater margin than two other polls released this week.
Strategic Vision’s survey of 800 voters showed Cantwell with an advantage of 8 percentage points, while an online Zogby interactive poll of 1,200 people showed McGavick behind by only 3.9 percentage points, or 50 percent to 46.1 percent.
Polling on the initiatives revealed an increasing clarity among the electorate.
Initiative 933, which would force state and local governments either to pay land owners when regulations lower property values or waive those rules, is trailing 51 percent to 39 percent. “While those results are encouraging, there is only one poll that matters, Election Day,” said Aaron Toso, communications manager for the No on 933 campaign.
Sultan apple farmer Ed Hussman, an initiative backer, questioned the spread, noting a different poll done last week showed the race to be a dead heat.
“I don’t see how the numbers can change so rapidly,” he said. “Maybe they called everyone in Seattle.”
The picture is bleak for backers of Initiative 920, which seeks to repeal the estate tax. The measure trails 53 percent to 32 percent.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for the No on 920 coalition. “We certainly, over the course of this campaign, have not seen any authentic grassroots appeal to repeal the Washington estate tax.”
Initiative 937 enjoys support from 52 percent of those polled with 33 percent opposed.
If passed, the measure requires the state’s largest utilities to obtain 15 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2020 and to invest in energy conservation.
“It confirms what we’ve known all along about this issue,” said Chris McCullough, campaign manager for the Yes on 937 campaign.
“When people understand clean energy, they understand why it’s important and they want it now,” he said.
Voters also were asked their opinions on the war in Iraq, immigration and same-sex marriage. Results of those questions will be released today.
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