VPR - Vermont PBS Poll - July 2018

What issues are top of mind for voters this election year? How do Vermonters rate President Trump and Governor Scott? How do they feel about the new gun control law?

The VPR - Vermont PBS Poll asked hundreds of Vermonters these questions and more. Find out where your neighbors stand on the candidates and the issues.

This is the first of two polls conducted by VPR & Vermont PBS in 2018. This poll was conducted in July. To view the second poll, conducted in October 2018, visit this site.

What do you think is the most important problem facing the state of Vermont today?

27%  The Economy, Jobs & Cost Of Living
11%  Taxes
3%   Education & Schools
5%   Health Care
3%   Wages & Workplace Issues
2%   Guns & Gun Control
19%  Drugs & Opiate Addiction
2%   Marijuana Legalization
5%   Troubled Politics & Leadership
4%   Environmental Issues, Climate Change & Renewable Energy
1%   Clean Water Issues
4%   National Politics
1%   Infrastructure
2%   Demographics
4%   Other
5%   Don’t Know
603  Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President?

28%   Approve
61%   Disapprove
10%   Not Sure/No Opinion
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Phil Scott is handling his job as Governor of Vermont?

43%   Approve
28%   Disapprove
29%   Not Sure/No Opinion
1%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bernie Sanders is handling his job as one of Vermont’s U.S. Senators?

66%   Approve
24%   Disapprove
10%   Not Sure/No Opinion
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Patrick Leahy is handling his job as one of Vermont’s U.S. Senators?

53%   Approve
19%   Disapprove
28%   Not Sure/No Opinion
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Peter Welch is handling his job as Vermont’s Congressional Representative?

47%   Approve
17%   Disapprove
35%   Not Sure/No Opinion
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

For each name, please state if have a favorable opinion, unfavorable opinion, or if you have not heard of the person:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Democrats in the state legislature handled the budget negotiations?

32%   Approve
33%   Disapprove
35%   Not Sure/No Opinion
1%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Republicans in the state legislature handled the budget negotiations?

26%   Approve
36%   Disapprove
37%   Not Sure/No Opinion
1%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Governor Phil Scott handled the budget negotiations?

36%   Approve
34%   Disapprove
30%   Not Sure/No Opinion
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

When it comes to managing the cost per student in Vermont schools, who do you think can do a better job: the state government or local government?

23%   State Government
50%   Local Government
5%    Neither
9%    Both
5%    It Depends
7%    Not Sure/No Opinion
603   Total Respondents

This past term, the Vermont legislature passed a law to require background checks for all gun sales, limit the size of ammunition magazines, ban bump stocks, and raise the legal age for gun purchases to 21 years old. Do you favor or oppose this legislation?

45%   Completely Favor
22%   Generally Favor
6%    Neither favor not oppose
13%   Generally oppose
12%   Completely oppose
2%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

In general, do you think that students in Vermont schools are completely safe, mostly safe, or not safe at school from incidents like the Parkland, Florida school shooting?

8%    Completely safe
69%   Mostly safe
19%   Not safe
4%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Do you think that immigration controls on the border between Vermont and Canada are too strict, too loose, or just about right?

16%   Too strict
56%   Just about right
11%   Too loose
6%    It depends
11%   Refused
603   Total Respondents

Would you favor raising the state minimum wage from the current $10.50 to eventually reach $15, favor raising the state minimum wage to reach something above $10.50 but less than $15, or oppose any increase in the minimum wage at all?

54%   Favor raising to $15
25%   Favor raising to value less than $15
15%   Oppose raising minimum wage
2%    Favor raising to value above $15
1%    Oppose any minimum wage
4%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

How likely are you to use marijuana for recreational purposes in the next year? Would you say very likely, somewhat likely, not too likely, or not likely at all?

18%   Very likely
9%    Somewhat likely
14%   Not too likely
56%   Not likely at all/Definitely will not
2%    Don’t know
1%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Is the fact that you are very or somewhat likely to use marijuana in the coming year due to the fact that the Vermont legislature legalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, or is that law irrelevant to your decision?

23%   Because of law
73%   Irrelevant
4%    Don’t know/Refused
148   Total Respondents

While the current law allows Vermonters to possess marijuana, it does not allow the retail sale of pot. In your opinion, should the state of Vermont allow the retail sale of marijuana for personal use or not?

56%    Yes, allow retail
31%    No, do not allow
8%     It depends
5%     Don’t Know/Refused
603    Total Respondents

In general, how often do you use a hand-held phone while driving in Vermont? Would you say...

5%    Often
7%    Sometimes
24%   Rarely
63%   Never
1%    It depends
1%    Don’t Know/Refused
603   Total Respondents

Thinking about racial and ethnic diversity, would you consider your community to be a place that is welcoming to diversity or not?

68%   Welcoming
12%   Not welcoming
11%   It depends
8%    Not sure
0%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

Have you or someone you know been personally affected by opiate addiction?

47%   Yes
50%   No
2%    Not sure
1%    Refused
603   Total Respondents

• Full Results (XLS)
  By Gender, Party and Region
  By Education & Age
  By Voter Registration & Time Living in Vermont
• Appendix A: Methodology
  Table 1: Sampling Error
  Table 2: Representativeness of weighted data
  Appendix B: Survey Instrument

Attribution

You are free to use and share this poll data provided you:

1. Maintain the integrity of the data and results
2. Provide credit/attribution to the “VPR - Vermont PBS Poll” everywhere the data is used, e.g. broadcast, web, social media
3. Link directly to this page, when possible, e.g. on web and social media.

Credit

The VPR - Vermont PBS Poll is a collaboration between Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS and was made possible by our supporters. Braun Research conducted the poll under the direction of Dr. Richard Clark.