Utahns love Gov. Mike Leavitt and the Utah Legislature even though citizens disagree with their $80 million tax cut - most residents wanted the money spent on state programs rather than returned.
Those are the findings in the latest Deseret News/KSL poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates this past week.Leavitt's popularity is the highest ever measured for a sitting governor. It's no wonder that with a week until the candidate filing deadline, Democrats can't find anyone to run against him this year.
And Jones found that Utahns rated the job performance of the 1996 Legislature at its highest level, also.
Nine out of 10 Utahns like the job Leavitt is doing, seven of 10 approve of the job the Legislature did, found Jones.
Still, 61 percent said they'd have preferred that the $80 million tax cut given by lawmakers and Leavitt be spent on state programs, like education, rather than returned. Only 35 percent wanted the tax cut, Jones found.
That 35 percent figure might have been higher had lawmakers trimmed the sales tax from food. Previous polls showed that was the tax citizens wanted reduced. But Leavitt and legislators instead decided to cut the income and property taxes.
Previous Deseret News/KSL polls have found 85 percent of citizens liking Leavitt's job performance. Now he's ranked even higher.
And several years ago less than 50 percent of Utahns approved of the job the Legislature was doing.
The 1995 Legislature got a 59 percent approval rating. But the 1996 session ranks even higher still.
Most legislators are running for re-election this year, so the overall approval rating must be good news for them.
But it's not good news for Democrats, who can't find a chink in Leavitt's armor and who are in significant minorities in the Utah House and Senate. With such approval ratings for the Legislature it will be difficult for Democratic legislative candidates to argue it's time for a change in power in the state house.
No doubt part of the good feelings for lawmakers is a result of legislators' smarter public relations work this year.
Even though the Senate was roundly criticized for holding an illegal secret meeting to discuss gays and lesbians in the public schools, House members stayed out of that fray and by session's end the talk was of tax cuts and record spending on state programs - not divisive moral issues.
And the 1996 Legislature didn't make the same mistake as the 1995 session in discussing - at some length and with vitriolic attacks on the press - so-called government reform matters like lobbyist reporting, campaign finance and conflict of interest.
Thus there was little or no public debate on those matters, which previous polls have shown are popular with citizens and practice has shown are hated by legislators.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Deseret News/KSL poll
Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of Gov. Mike Leavitt in his handling of the Legislature?
STRONGLY APPROVE 52%
SOMEWHAT APPROVE 38%
SOMEWHAT DISAPPROVE 3%
STRONGLY DISAPPROVE 2%
DON'T KNOW 5%
Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of this year's State Legislature?
STRONGLY APPROVE 18%
SOMEWHAT APPROVE 51%
SOMEWHAT DISAPPROVE 13%
STRONGLY DISAPPROVE 12%
DON'T KNOW 5%
Do you approve of the tax cut given by the Utah Legislature or would you rather have had the money spent on state programs, such as education?
STRONGLY APPROVE 25%
SOMEWHAT APPROVE 10%
RATHER THE MONEY SPENT
ON STATE PROGRAMS 61%
OTHER 2%
DON'T KNOW 2%
Poll conducted Mar. 2-6, 1996, 607 residents. Margin of error +/-4%. Survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. Copyright 1996 Deseret News.