(The Center Square) – Wisconsin voters are concerned about affordability in all of their lives, including in funding schools.
Seventy-five percent of registered voters said that they were very concerned with inflation and the cost of living while 63% were very concerned with health insurance, 60% with jobs and the economy, 57% with the affordability of housing, 52% with public schools, 51% with illegal immigration and border security and 47% with property taxes in a recent Marquette Poll.
The University of Marquette Law School poll asked 850 registered voters about their preferences from March 11-18.
The poll also showed that Republicans were much more concerned with immigration and border security than Democrats or independents and Republicans were also more concerned with property taxes.
Democrats were more concerned than Republicans about gun violence, inflation, affordability of housing and health insurance.
Overall 35% said they were most concerned with inflation and the cost of living while 14% said illegal immigration and border security, 11% said health insurance, 9% said jobs and the economy, 7% said property taxes and 6% said the affordability of housing.
Fifty-eight percent of those polled said that they are more concerned about property taxes than funding for K-12 public schools while 41% said the opposite. That’s a change from the 60% that said they were more concerned about property taxes in February.
School spending has been a large campaign issue after Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that meant a $325 per student per year funding increase for the next 400 years. Voters said that they believe Evers’ power went too far and a November statewide vote on a proposed constitutional amendment will decide if the governor’s partial veto power will remain.
Fifty-two percent said that the veto will require annual tax increases while 48% said they felt the move was necessary to support public schools.
Forty-eight percent said they would vote for a referendum to fund the schools in their community while 51% said they would vote against it.
And, as lawmakers debate the potential of spending what is projected to be a $2.3 billion budget surplus by the end of this budget cycle, 52% of voters said that they would prefer an increase in state aid to schools than a one-time payment to taxpayers.
