TWO MONTHS AFTER the Legislature gaveled out of formal sessions for the year, leaving promised bills on climate change and economic development unfinished, a new poll shows voters are aren’t happy with Beacon Hill lawmakers.
The survey of likely voters finds that 47 percent disapprove of the job lawmakers are doing. Forty-two percent said they approved, and 11 percent said they were undecided (toplines/crosstabs).
“Usually Massachusetts voters are pretty okay with their State House leaders,” said Jerold Duquette, a professor of political science at Central Connecticut State University and a close watcher of Massachusetts politics. “That’s historically low.”
The findings come from a MassINC Polling Group survey of 800 likely voters, conducted from September 12 to 18, for CommonWealth Beacon and WBUR. The poll was funded by a Knight Election Hub grant and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
Lawmakers have come in for criticism from progressive activists and the business sector for failing to push several big bills across the finish line when formal sessions ended August 1. “The consistent inability to enact planned legislation over a two-year session indicates a policymaking process that is not working effectively,” said a report this week from the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
Legislative leaders claim the economic development package, which includes investments in artificial intelligence and life sciences, will get done in a special session, though it remains unscheduled.
Asked whether ending formal sessions with so many big bills left undone could be having an impact on the Legislature’s job approval ratings, Duquette said, “I don’t see how it could not be a factor.” At a minimum, he said, “it’s bad press. It’s a reminder of the way they operate. When you focus on it, it doesn’t look good to anybody.”
Voter cynicism driven by national politics – which in recent days has featured Donald Trump falsely claiming that Haitian migrants are eating people’s pets in Ohio – could also be trickling down to state politics, Duquette suggested.
Democratic voters, whose party enjoys a supermajority in both legislative branches on Beacon HIll and holds every statewide constitutional office, are more satisfied with state lawmakers, with 63 percent saying they approve of the job they’re doing, while 73 percent of Republicans say they disapprove.
Forty-nine percent of independents, who make up the largest bloc of the Massachusetts electorate, disapprove, while 45 percent approve.
The poll of likely voters suggests the Legislature’s standing may be slipping. In a poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group for CommonWealth Beacon last October, 51 percent of registered voters approved of the job the Legislature was doing, while 32 percent disapproved, and 16 percent said they didn’t know.
Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, said voters’ dissatisfaction is also apparent through their answers to other questions in the new poll.
Fifty-eight percent said they wished more candidates ran for the state Legislature, which this year is expected to see 65 percent of incumbents go unchallenged. Nineteen percent said there are enough candidates running.
Asked whether state government overall operates in a way that is open and transparent, 45 percent said it doesn’t, compared with 36 percent who said it does, and 19 percent who were unsure.
That could help explain why a ballot question authorizing the state auditor to audit the Legislature (Question 1) has the support of a whopping 70 percent of those polled. Just 8 percent say they’re opposed, and 22 percent said they don’t know or refused to answer the question.
Auditor Diana DiZoglio has been campaigning for the ballot question, after lawmakers rebuffed her attempts to get them to submit to an audit.
The poll results, along with campaign finance reports tracking donations to the Question 1 campaign, show both Democrats and Republicans backing her question. The poll found 58 percent of Democrats in support, and 76 percent of Republicans, as well as 78 percent of independents.
The committee behind the ballot question has pulled in roughly $400,000 in donations, though fundraising has slowed as polling has shown the yes side of the ballot question ahead of the no side.
CommonWealth Beacon previously reported that legislative leaders won’t be mounting an opposition campaign. They are instead widely expected to challenge the measure in court if the ballot question passes.
Duquette, the political science professor, has called the ballot measure constitutionally problematic, arguing that DiZoglio is unable to audit lawmakers without the consent of the Legislature.
He said the best analogue for the ballot measure is the Clean Elections Law, passed overwhelmingly by Massachusetts voters in 1998. Lawmakers resisted efforts to fund the law, which sought to provide public money to candidates who agreed to spending limits. Despite pressure through a court order, lawmakers repealed the law in 2003.
Duquette foresees a similar fate for the audit-the-Legislature question, and isn’t surprised lawmakers are opting against an opposition campaign. “Tactically they are making the decision that makes most sense to them,” he said.
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