A 93% majority of Michigan voters have an unfavorable impression of Michigan’s roads and 65% of voters give them a poor rating, according to an EPIC-MRA poll of 600 voters taken May 11-17. Another 28% described the roads as “fair,” 6% said they were “pretty good.” Zero said they were excellent.
The poll’s release was likely designed to draw attention to the industry’s desire to show public support for more road funding, but Republicans immediately turned it into a testament on Gov. Gretchen WHITMER’s inability to live up to her 2018 campaign promise to “fix the damn roads.”
“Her failures continue to pile up,” said Michigan Republican Party spokesperson Gus PORTELO.
For the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Agency (MITA), which paid for a survey, the takeaway is a 32% plurality of voters that named improving the state’s overall infrastructure as the state’s top priority. Controlling crime was second (15%), improving education was third (14%).
Among those asked, 36% said the state should cut spending to pay for the roads, 35% said they were willing to pay higher taxes to improve the roads. Another 12% suggested the state do both.
While 91% of respondents opposed major funding cuts for K-12 schools, the public’s appetite for major cuts to colleges, universities and community colleges was split half and half, with 49% opposed to and 48% favoring heavy reductions in state funding.
In today’s press release in response to the EPIC-MRA poll, Rob COPPERSMITH, executive vice president of MITA, said that “Time and again Michigan voters have said that fixing Michigan’s crumbling infrastructure is a top issue for the state . . . showing that even though we’ve begun to increase our short-term investment in fixing Michigan’s infrastructure, we still have a long way to go.”
This article originally appeared in MIRS. To read more, click here.