New poll shows how wrong Arizona's Republican lawmakers are on light rail
The vacationing Arizona Legislature returns to the Capitol on Monday, where our leaders will decide whether to put the question of Maricopa County’s transportation future where it belongs.
Into the capable hands of the voters who will pay for it.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows that Maricopa County voters support the plan Republican legislators have been blocking.
Imagine that.
Only 17% oppose county's transit plan
In all, 56% of those polled said they would support an extension of the Proposition 400 half-cent sales tax to fund freeways, roads, buses and, yes, even the light rail despised by Republican legislators.
Just 17% oppose it, according to the poll by the nonpartisan Noble Predictive Insights.
Lest you think it’s a boondoggle supported only by Democrats, socialists and suspicious sorts who display disturbing “woke” tendencies, fully 47% of Republicans surveyed said they’d support the plan.
Just 30% opposed it.
Pollster Mike Noble said the message is clear.
“The Republican Legislature should be a little more open minded and also maybe looking a little less to the base and little bit more about what all Republicans and all voters think about light rail and its utility,” he told me.
Freedom Caucus views the plan differently
The half-cent sales tax to fund the Valley’s regional transportation needs expires in December 2025.
Unlike every other county in the state, Maricopa County cannot ask voters to extend it without the nanny-state Legislature’s approval.
The updated plan put together by the Valley’s cities and tribes was actually approved by the Legislature last year, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, whose dislike for taxes extended even to tax extensions.
Lawmakers reject transit plan: Great news, if you enjoy snarled traffic
But this year’s Legislature dances to the tune of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, and its members have made it clear they would rather allow traffic — and the Valley’s economic prospects — to come to a screeching halt than to allow any expansion of light rail.
Some don’t even want to spend the money to maintain the system we've already spent billions to build.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund a transit system like light rail that accommodates less than 1% of the Valley commuters,” Freedom Caucus Chairman and Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, said last month.
Few voters want to pare back light rail
Voters see it differently.
Among those polled, 54% said the light rail system should be expanded. That includes 48% of Republicans, 50% of independents and 64% of Democrats.
Among Republicans, another 22% said it’s is fine as it is.
Just 11% of Republicans said light rail should either be reduced or cease to exist.
Unfortunately, those seem to be the people who have the ear of the state’s Republican legislators.
No compromise yet, and we're out of time
Staffers from the Governor’s Office and the Legislature have been meeting for months to try to hash out a deal. I’m told there’s no agreement as of now, just five days before the Legislature is due to return.
It’s anybody’s guess whether they’ll get there, but one thing is certain.
It’s now or never for putting a Proposition 400 extension on the 2024 ballot, given the poisonous politics of a presidential election year.
The MAGA crowd spends a fair amount of time talking about “We the People.”
So why, I wonder, are they so afraid to allow us to make the call?
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The opt-in online poll of 600 Maricopa County voters was conducted July 13-17 and overall has a margin of error of 4%. The margin of error on the Republican subsample is 6.79%.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Light rail should live on in Maricopa County. Even GOP voters say so
