BOSTON (State House News Service) – People who are in favor of rent control would waver in their support of the policy shift depending on how different phrases appear in a potential ballot question, according to a poll released Thursday that focused on a range of issues confronting Beacon Hill lawmakers, including gun reform, standardizing testing and raising the minimum wage.
Nearly 59 percent of people support a statewide rent control policy that “prevents landlords from raising rents too much,” compared to 26 percent who oppose it, the new poll from the right-leaning Fiscal Alliance Foundation found. About 15 percent were undecided or not sure.
But Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Foundation spokesperson Paul Craney described that query as a “propaganda” question crafted for rent control proponents.
“The intention of asking that question is kind of see where their ceiling is at and then see how those people move from saying yes they support rent control, to having doubt, unsure, undecided or opposing” subsequent questions, Craney said during a virtual press conference Thursday. “It was intentionally put there on purpose just to see how people change their opinion when you ask a conceptual question.”
The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent, queried 750 likely voters on July 21-22. The results were released less than a week before ballot question petition...
When a company promises to save the planet by 2050, it sounds reassuring. But what if that promise comes with no real plan, no credible evidence, and no accountability? A sweeping new study reveal...