The share of Louisianans who think the state is heading in the right direction has fallen to 32% in a new poll from Baton Rouge-based Southern Media & Opinion Research Inc., down from 41% in an SMOR poll conducted in September 2016.
Meanwhile, the share of residents who think the state is headed in the wrong direction has increased to 52%, up 10 percentage points from eight months ago.
“Louisiana voters appear tired of the annual ritual of budget deficits and endless discussions on merits of raising revenue versus cutting the budget,” reads a summary of the poll, which was conducted by phone between May 3 and 6 with 500 likely voters from across the state. “They appear frustrated at the absence of a long-term solution.”
The poll was funded by private subscribers, SMOR says, and it has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. Among other highlights:
- Fifty-four percent of respondents believe the state government’s problems are primarily caused by too much spending, while 26% believe they’re due to a lack of revenue. Another 16% identified both as being at the root of the state’s financial woes.
- Twenty-nine percent of respondents support a proposal to increase the gasoline tax by 17 cents per gallon, while 67% oppose it.
- When asked about Gov. John Bel Edwards’ job performance, about 10% of respondents say “excellent,” 44% say “good,” roughly 24% say “not so good,” slightly more than 18% say “poor,” and about 4% say they don’t know.
—Steve Sanoski
