Most likely voters in Massachusetts have a low opinion of the state's transportation infrastructure and think MBTA service has only gotten worse during Governor Charlie Baker's time in office, but they don't blame him for those problems.
That's according to a new poll from MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the online survey of almost 1,000 likely voters during the second week of October.
The poll found that 78% of respondents view the state's transportation system in only "fair" or "poor" condition, and only 23% think the MBTA is doing better now than when Baker took office in 2015. Despite that, 65% approve of how Baker has managed transportation issues as governor.
Richard Parr, who is MassINC's Senior Research Director, explained the apparent paradox: “Baker talks about the problems that he inherited regarding the T and transportation, and apparently voters largely do think that this is a problem that has many, many causes and not just related to him.”
Speaking ahead of next month's gubernatorial election, Parr added, “It will be interesting to see if the next governor inherits Baker’s suit of armor on this issue.”
Voters were asked to pick three transportation priorities for the next governor and two rose to the top: 66% cited improving highways, roads and bridges; and 59% said improving the existing public transportation network. Making roads safer for drivers, bikers and pedestrians came in third with 39%.
While voters preferred fixing the current infrastructure first, they also approved of several major projects supported by one or both candidates running for governor. Most popular is extending passenger rail service between Boston and Western Massachusetts, which 80% of respondents supported either "strongly" or "somewhat." East-West rail is something both Democrat Maura Healey and Republican Geoff Diehl support.
Several other ideas on Healey’s agenda were supported either "strongly" or "somewhat": discounts and free bus transfers for low-income riders (79%), additional funding to run regional transit authority buses on nights and weekends (78%) and transforming the commuter rail into a “regional rail” network with more frequent service (73%). Voters were mixed on the idea of making all public buses across the state completely free.
To pay for it all, voters continue to support Question 1, which would add a 4% surtax on annual incomes over $1 million, but showed little interest in other, broader-based revenue ideas like increasing fares or the state's gas and sales tax. As it stands, 59% of voters planned to vote “yes” on Question 1, while 31% said "no" and 10% were undecided.
Some positive news for the MBTA was that 59% of voters thought that the recent 30-day Orange Line shutdown was worth the inconvenience. Even among the 29% of those who said their own travel was impacted by the shutdowns, 55% still thought it was worth it. Going forward, 59% supported more service shutdowns to expedite repairs.
The full MassINC poll can be found here.
