[T]wo weeks before the November election, a new poll shows how Vermonters view the candidates and where they stand hot-topic issues including racism and sexual misconduct.
Here’s a rundown of the highlights. The full results of the VPR-Vermont PBS Poll are available here.
Voters are energized
Turn out for the general election will likely be strong. Sixty-five percent of respondents say they will “definitely vote” in the election. Only 5 percent say they will “definitely not vote.” That’s way up from the less than 44 percent of voters who showed up for the 2014 midterms, the lowest turnout ever in Vermont.
Voters for both major parties also seem to be energized this year with two weeks to go until the election: 74 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans said they will vote.
Mixed opinions on racism
Racism in Vermont has been in the news recently, with reports since August of racially motivated harassment targeting Kiah Morris, a state representative from Bennington who has resigned her seat, and young people of color facing racial slurs at a summer camp in Stowe.
While 40 percent of poll respondents said more needs to be done to address racist attitudes in Vermont, 13 percent responded that “too much” was being done to bring attention to racial issues and 16 percent said racism was not a problem at all in Vermont.
Overall, 53 percent said racism was an issue while 43 percent responded that it was not a problem or was a “small problem.”
Staying in state
Gov. Phil Scott and Democrat Christine Hallquist want to improve the economy and incentivize people to stay in Vermont, whether by making the state more affordable or connecting all homes to high-speed internet.
According to the poll, 77 percent of responders said they are planning to stay in Vermont for the next five years and 16 percent said they intend to move elsewhere.
Sixty-eight percent of responders between the ages of 18 and 44 said they will remain in Vermont for the next five years; 21 percent said they would move.
Paid family leave
One of the clearest contrasts between the gubernatorial candidates is their position on paid family leave: Hallquist supports it and Scott says it should be optional. Scott also vetoed a Democrat proposal this year to fund paid family leave with a payroll tax.
Forty-six percent of people polled said they were in favor of a payroll tax of about $70 per person per year if the revenue provided new parents with up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Thirty-four percent said they would oppose this tax and 19 percent said they were unsure.
Most Republicans — 60 percent — said they would oppose such a payroll tax and 62 percent of Democrats said they were in favor of it.
There was also a divide between between young and old: 55 percent of 18- to 44-year-olds are in favor of the tax and 42 percent of those 65 or older said they would oppose it.
Workplace sexual harassment
In the age of the #MeToo movement and in the wake of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, discussions of sexual harassment have dominated public discourse in recent months.
In Vermont, 26 percent of those polled said they had witnessed or experienced sexual harassment in a workplace or a state institution and 70 percent said they had not.
The number of women who said they had witnessed or experienced sexual harassment in a Vermont workplace was almost double that of the men. Thirty-three percent of women said they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment compared with 19 percent of men.
Kavanaugh a ‘poor choice’
The VPR-PBS Poll also asked Vermonters about their view of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Of those polled, 54 percent said Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was a poor choice and 28 percent said Kavanaugh was the right choice.
Across the U.S. 40 percent of those polled have a negative opinion of Kavanaugh after his confirmation and 34 percent thought favorably of him, according to a NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll published on Sunday.
In Vermont, 71 percent of Republicans said the Kavanaugh nomination was a good pick while 88 percent of Democrats said he was not suitable for the lifetime appointment.
Presidential disapproval
President Donald Trump remains unpopular in Vermont, and really unpopular among younger Vermonters.
Fifty-nine percent of those polled disapproved of the job Trump is doing, while 24 percent approve. Among the 178 Vermonters 18 to 44 years old who were polled, 67 percent disapprove and 17 percent approve of the job Trump is doing.
Views of Trump are highly partisan: 64 percent of Vermont Republicans approve of the president while 94 percent of Democrats do not.
Nationally, 47 percent of Americans polled approve of the job Trump is doing and 49 percent disapprove, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published Sunday.
