Feb 20, 2008 7:19 am US/Eastern
Poll: Voters Unhappy With Corzine, Toll Increases
TRENTON (AP) ―
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Voters are unhappy with Gov. Jon S. Corzine and his plan to increase highway tolls. (File)
AP
Voters are unhappy with Gov. Jon S. Corzine and his plan to increase highway tolls, a poll released Wednesday found.
The Quinnipiac University poll found 73 percent of voters oppose significantly boosting highway tolls to pay state debt and fund transportation, with 52 percent disapproving of Corzine's performance as governor.
It found just 37 percent of voters approve of the Democrat's job performance, down from 46 percent in a December poll taken before he proposed the toll increases.
The 37 percent figure is the lowest approval rating for Corzine in a Quinnipiac poll since April 2006 when his rating fell to 35 percent after he proposed a sales tax increase.
His highest approval rating -- 51 percent—came in April 2007.
According to the latest poll, 51 percent of voters think Corzine doesn't deserve re-election; 32 percent say he deserves another four-year term. Corzine faces re-election in 2009 and has said he probably will run.
"Gov. Corzine's toll hike proposal has smashed into a brick wall of massive voter opposition," said Clay F. Richards, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Corzine wants to pay at least half of $32 billion in state debt and fund transportation improvements for 75 years.
To do so, he wants to increase tolls 50 percent in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. The increases would include inflation adjustments. After 2022, tolls would increase every four years until 2085 to reflect inflation.
The Atlantic City Expressway, Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike would be affected, but no legislator has endorsed the plan.
Corzine has said he didn't expect the public to embrace his plan, but something must be done to restructure state finances and cut mounting debt.
"I am open to alternatives that work to fix the problems that we have as a state," Corzine said last week.
The poll found wide-ranging opposition, with 63 percent of Democrats and voters from all regions opposing it.
"Even those who don't drive on the toll roads don't want toll hikes," Richards said.
The highest opposition comes from the shore area, where many commuters use the parkway and expressway; 86 percent of voters there oppose toll hikes.
The poll found 68 percent of voters oppose lessening toll increases by combining them with a gas tax increase, as some Democratic lawmakers proposed.
When asked to state a preference if forced to find a way to increase state revenues, 31 percent said increase the sales tax, 23 percent said tolls, 13 percent the gas tax and 13 percent the income tax.
The telephone poll of 1,803 registered voters was conducted from Feb. 13 to 18 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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