As state budget negotiations continue to drag, a Virginia Commonwealth University poll released Tuesday highlights how Virginia residents want the state’s budget surplus to be spent.
The statewide poll found 48% of those surveyed would prefer the surplus go toward projects, such as building or repairing schools, compared to 43% who said it should be used for tax relief. Responses varied along party lines, with 64% of Republicans favoring tax relief and 68% of Democrats preferring projects.
The partisan divide isn’t surprising.
The General Assembly approved a two-year budget in 2022, but legislators this year were tasked with compromising on a series of budget amendments. However, partisan disagreements over tax cuts derailed the negotiations and a consensus still hasn’t been reached.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for $1 billion in cuts, including lowering the corporate income tax rate from 6% to 5%, increasing the standard income tax deductions for individuals and joint filers and expanding tax exemptions on veterans’ pensions by eliminating age requirements. The Republican-held House of Delegates backed the governor’s plan, while the Democrat-held Senate wanted to nix the tax cuts and give about $1 billion to school divisions.
Another takeaway from the poll, which was conducted in July by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs: Many Virginians are worried about the rising cost of living.
The survey found 36% of respondents consider inflation to be the most important issue facing Virginia today, followed by education (18%), women’s reproductive rights (13%) and gun control (12%).
“I’ve always had a one-word definition for politics — money — and the people are likewise focused on inflation and the skyrocketing cost of living,” Wilder, a Democrat who served as state’s 66th governor, said in a Tuesday news release about the poll.
Black Virginians were the only demographic that had a higher proportion of respondents cite other issues as the top concern. The majority of Black respondents listed education (28%) as the most important issue, followed by women’s reproductive rights (21%) and then inflation (20%).
The poll used landline and mobile telephone interviews from July 14-25 with a representative sample of 804 adults living in Virginia. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.46 percentage points, according to the release.
Katie King, [email protected]
