Peter Brown, Assistant

Director,
Quinnipiac University Polling
Institute
(203) 582-5201

Rubenstein Associates, Inc.

Public Relations ,
FOR RELEASE: DECEMBER 15, 2010

PENNSYLVANIA VOTERS HOPEFUL FOR NEW GOVERNOR,

QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL FINDS;
SELLING LIQUOR STORES IS TOP CHOICE TO BALANCE BUDGET
Pennsylvania voters say 59 – 27 percent they are optimistic about the next four years with
Governor-elect Tom Corbett at the helm, and 66 – 26 percent back the idea of selling the state’s
liquor stores to help balance the state budget, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released
today.
Voters oppose 52 – 36 percent leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private firm, the
independent Quinnipiac (KWIN uh-pe-ack) University survey finds. And by a 51 – 41 percent
margin, voters are okay with laying off state workers to reduce the red ink.
Corbett has pledged he will not raise taxes or fees to balance the budget. Voters say 47 –
44 percent they think the pledge is a good idea, but they say 53 – 33 percent he will not be able to
keep his pledge. Pennsylvania voters oppose 65 – 32 percent raising taxes to balance the budget.
“Pennsylvanians are optimistic that newly-elected governor Tom Corbett will be able to
make things better by more than two-to-one, yet they are skeptical that he can deal with the state’s
budget problems without raising taxes or fees, as he has promised,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant
director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Even Democrats are optimistic, 45 – 40
percent, about the future under Corbett.”
Republicans are most optimistic, 79 – 14 percent, about the next four years under Corbett,
while independent voters are optimistic 59 – 25 percent.
“Corbett won comfortably because he carried independents and those same independents
are giving him the benefit of the doubt as he begins his governorship,” said Brown.
-more-
Quinnipiac University Poll/December 15, 2010 – page 2
Sixty percent of Pennsylvania voters see the state’s budget problems as “very serious” and
another 33 percent see them as “somewhat serious.” And by 56 – 30 percent they favor cutting
state services rather than raising taxes as the method to deal with the problem.
Selling state-owned liquor stores has the most support among various ideas tested, with
support pretty much across party lines. The idea is backed by 68 percent of Republicans, 70
percent of independents and 63 percent of Democrats.
But laying off state workers gets a more partisan skew with 59 percent of Republicans and
53 percent of independent voters backing the idea, but only 43 percent of Democrats. Those in
union households split 44 – 46 percent on state worker layoffs.
But the opposition to leasing the turnpike is stronger and relatively bipartisan, with 56
percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents and Republicans against the idea.
Given a choice of ways to balance the budget:
• 54 percent of voters support selling the state liquor stores;
• 17 percent pick leasing the turnpike;
• 14 percent say lay off state workers;
• 7 percent say raise taxes.
Asked their least favorite solution:
• 47 percent of voters put raising taxes at the bottom of the list;
• 28 percent say laying off state workers;
• 14 percent name leasing the turnpike;
• 7 percent say selling the liquor stores.
“Pennsylvanians do not appear to be ideological on the issue of privatizing state assets.
They support selling the liquor stores while they oppose leasing the turnpike,” said Brown.
“They apparently want the state in the driving business but not the drinking business.”
From December 6 – 13, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,584 Pennsylvania voters, with
a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed– http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

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3. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the next four years with Tom Corbett
as Governor?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Optimistic 59% 79% 45% 59% 57% 60% 57%

Pessimistic 27 14 40 25 30 25 29
DK/NA 14 6 15 16 13 14 14

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Optimistic 64% 46% 59% 58% 60% 65% 60%

Pessimistic 27 36 19 31 31 22 26
DK/NA 9 18 23 11 9 13 14

11. In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in Pennsylvania
today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very
dissatisfied?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Very satisfied 2% 2% 4% 1% 3% 2% 3%
Smwht satisfied 35 29 42 33 37 33 36
Smwht dissatisfied 37 39 35 38 34 40 35
Very dissatisfied 25 30 17 26 25 24 25
DK/NA 1 1 1 2 1 1 1

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Very satisfied 3% 5% 1% 3% 2% - 2%
Smwht satisfied 33 44 38 41 31 26 30
Smwht dissatisfied 35 33 38 39 36 38 38
Very dissatisfied 28 17 23 16 31 34 28
DK/NA 2 - - 1 - 2 2

TREND: In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in Pennsylvania
today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very
dissatisfied? (*Low also 39% Sep 2009)

VERY+SMWHT....
High Low
Dec 15 Jul 13 Apr 8 Mar 3 Dec 17 Jun 5 Mar 3
2010 2010 2010 2010 2009 2002 2010*

Very satisfied 2 3 4 2 4 8 2
Smwht satisfied 35 37 42 37 38 60 37
Smwht dissatisfied 37 38 34 37 38 22 37
Very dissatisfied 25 21 19 23 19 8 23
DK/NA 1 1 1 1 2 3 1
 3
12. How serious do you think Pennsylvania's budget problems are very serious, somewhat
serious, not too serious, or not at all serious?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Very serious 60% 63% 58% 60% 62% 59% 53%

Smwht serious 33 32 36 32 31 36 39
Not too serious 4 4 5 4 6 3 6
Not at all serious 1 - - 1 1 - -
DK/NA 1 1 1 2 1 2 2

TREND: How serious do you think Pennsylvania's budget problems are – very serious,
somewhat serious, not too serious, or not at all serious?

Dec 15 Feb 20
2010 2003

Very serious 60 32
Smwht serious 33 55
Not too serious 4 7
Not at all serious 1 1
DK/NA 1 5

13. To balance the state budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer; raising taxes or
cutting government programs and services?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Raising taxes 30% 13% 46% 27% 27% 32% 30%

Cutting services 56 77 38 59 61 52 54
DK/NA 14 9 16 14 12 16 16

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Raising taxes 37% 46% 30% 35% 23% 15% 23%

Cutting services 47 37 53 53 63 71 64
DK/NA 16 17 17 11 13 14 13

TREND: To balance the state budget, if you had to choose, would you prefer raising taxes
or cutting government programs and services?

Dec 15 Feb 20
2010 2003

Raising taxes 30 29
Cutting services 56 57
DK/NA 14 14

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14. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose – layoffs for state
employees?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Support 51% 59% 43% 53% 53% 49% 44%

Oppose 41 34 50 37 39 42 46
DK/NA 9 8 7 9 8 9 10

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Support 57% 35% 56% 51% 50% 53% 51%

Oppose 36 59 35 42 35 42 39
DK/NA 7 6 9 7 15 6 10

15. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose – leasing the Pennslyvania
turnpike to a private company?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Support 36% 39% 33% 36% 37% 36% 36%

Oppose 52 50 56 50 55 49 55
DK/NA 12 11 11 13 8 16 9

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Support 38% 34% 34% 44% 21% 36% 37%

Oppose 48 61 55 41 69 53 49
DK/NA 15 6 11 15 9 11 14

16. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - selling off the state
liquor stores?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Support 66% 68% 63% 70% 68% 64% 62%

Oppose 26 26 31 23 27 26 32
DK/NA 8 6 6 7 5 10 6

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Support 69% 59% 59% 77% 63% 65% 64%

Oppose 22 33 30 19 30 27 28
DK/NA 9 8 11 4 7 8 9

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17. To help balance the state budget do you support or oppose - raising taxes?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Support 32% 17% 44% 34% 33% 31% 38%

Oppose 65 82 53 62 64 66 58
DK/NA 3 2 3 4 3 3 4

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Support 31% 44% 38% 40% 22% 19% 28%

Oppose 64 55 56 59 73 76 71
DK/NA 5 1 6 1 5 4 1

18. If you had to make a choice to help balance the state budget, which would you choose;
leasing the turnpike, selling the state liquor stores, laying off state workers or
raising taxes?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Lease turnpike 17% 18% 19% 14% 16% 19% 20%

Sell liquor stores 54 54 52 57 50 56 55
Lay off state wrkrs 14 20 10 15 16 13 9
Raise taxes 7 2 12 6 10 5 7
DK/NA 7 6 7 7 8 7 9

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Lease turnpike 15% 21% 14% 18% 10% 21% 20%

Sell liquor stores 54 54 51 59 55 47 52
Lay off state wrkrs 14 10 18 12 17 17 15
Raise taxes 10 12 6 6 9 3 6
DK/NA 6 3 12 5 9 12 7

19. And which would you be most opposed to; leasing the turnpike, selling the state
liquor stores, laying off state workers or raising taxes?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Lease turnpike 14% 11% 14% 14% 16% 11% 13%

Sell liquor stores 7 7 9 5 9 5 7
Lay off state wrkrs 28 19 36 26 27 29 36
Raise taxes 47 59 36 49 44 49 42
DK/NA 5 4 4 5 4 5 3

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Lease turnpike 16% 19% 16% 14% 8% 10% 12%

Sell liquor stores 6 8 8 3 15 5 8
Lay off state wrkrs 20 39 27 35 21 19 28
Raise taxes 55 31 43 44 49 58 48
DK/NA 3 3 7 4 7 8 4

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20. Governor-elect Tom Corbett has pledged that in trying to balance the state's budget
deficit that he will not raise taxes or fees. Do you think Tom Corbett should have made
this pledge or not?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Yes 47% 64% 36% 43% 46% 48% 44%

No 44 26 60 46 46 43 49
DK/NA 9 10 4 11 9 9 7

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Yes 51% 42% 39% 46% 51% 59% 44%

No 44 50 50 48 34 33 44
DK/NA 5 7 11 6 15 8 12

21. Do you think Tom Corbett will be able to keep his campaign pledge or not?

Union
Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom HsHlds

Yes 33% 47% 24% 32% 37% 31% 28%

No 53 40 65 52 52 53 59
DK/NA 14 14 11 15 11 16 13

Alghny Philly NthEst SthEst NthWst SthWst Cntrl

Yes 35% 33% 29% 32% 29% 45% 33%

No 51 53 49 60 59 42 52
DK/NA 13 14 22 8 12 13 14