UW-Milwaukee: UWM poll – Wisconsin residents want budget surplus to go toward education

MILWAUKEE – When asked how they would prefer state budget surplus funds to be allocated, 40% of Wisconsin residents would prioritize education funding, 33% would prioritize funding for Medicaid, 16% would prioritize income tax cuts, and 10% would prioritize covering shortfalls in the state’s transportation fund, according to results from the latest wave of the Wisconsin Economic Scorecard.

The Wisconsin Economic Scorecard is a quarterly poll of Wisconsin residents conducted by the UWM Center for Urban Initiatives and Research in cooperation with Milwaukee Public Radio (WUWM 89.7) and WisBusiness.com . The survey measures perceptions of the health of Wisconsin’s economy, personal economic circumstances of Wisconsin residents and public opinion regarding important state economic issues.

Major findings include:
* A slight majority of Wisconsin residents (51%) oppose tying increased funding for education to how well school districts perform.

* Wisconsin residents are divided over Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to divert much of the current budget cycle’s surplus toward income tax cuts; 45% support the income tax cuts, while 45% oppose the plan.

* A slight majority of Wisconsin residents (51%) feel the possible environmental costs of the proposed iron ore mine near Ashland are a more important consideration than the possible economic benefits, while 41% feel the opposite.

* Most residents (61%) feel Wisconsin is “headed in the right direction,” but just 27% rate the state economy as “good” and only 1% rate the state economy as “excellent.”

* Fewer Wisconsin residents had problems keeping their jobs or affording their rent or mortgage payments compared with last quarter, and rates of most types of serious personal financial problems are significantly lower than they were at this time last year.

This poll is a random-digit-dialing telephone survey of 622 Wisconsin residents conducted Feb. 4-7. The margin of error is 3.9%.

For more, go online at http://www.wisconsineconomicscorecard.org.

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(Contact: Joseph Cera, 414-229-2676, jacera@uwm.edu.)