Poll shows emphasis on education

Jennifer Knight

Monday, Dec. 22, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Funding for education ranked No. 1 in the eyes of voters, while cutting taxes placed second in a statewide poll.

The survey, released earlier this month, asked 613 voters what issues they wanted candidates to champion in the 2004 elections.

Education funding received support from 36.2 percent of the voters. The issues that followed were: Cutting taxes, fighting Yucca Mountain, improving ethics, promoting tourism, highway construction and tort reform.

"What was most stunning to me in the poll is that after all of the hysteria over the tax increases last year, voters said they cared more about increasing educational funding," said Billy Rogers of the Southwest Group, a pollster who has worked for Democratic candidates and was an organizer of the marijuana legalization effort in Nevada last year.

Rogers claims voter emphasis on education will win more seats in the Legislature for Democrats because it is an issue the party fights for, and warned that if Republican candidates make cutting taxes a priority, "they are in for a rude awakening."

Republican consultant Sig Rogich said he puts little stock in partisan surveys such as Rogers' and pointed out that Republicans have long been supporters of increasing educational funding.

"The largest increases in education spending and funding have come through Republican administrations," Rogich said.

Rogich said both K-12 and higher education realized increased funding during the 2003 legislative session.

The increases, which allowed for population growth, came as a result of the passage of one of the state's largest tax increase, an issue Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, fought against.

Beers said the poll doesn't reflect feedback he's received from his district.

"It certainly is markedly different from every other poll that I've seen," Beers said. "All the other polls that I have seen is that people are interested in fiscal restraint.

"I have had no constituent ... calling me and saying they want to raise taxes even higher."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he already considers education a top priority.

"I didn't need to see a poll to tell me how important education is," Reid said. "The two most important issues I see are, one, education and the second is jobs."

The poll had Reid with a commanding lead of 56 percentage points over opponent Richard Ziser in next year's Senate race.

The poll, which has a margin of plus or minus 4 percent, showed that overwhelming support for Reid could allow Democrats in other races to ride his coattails.

Ziser argued that with Democrats in the minority and President Bush's popularity rising in the polls, Republicans will have a better chance.

"(Reid) is in the minority party, and the way it looks is that he's going to remain in the minority," Ziser said. "Overall the state is not in a very good position that way."

State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said she believes the two biggest legislative issues will be education and health care, but dismissed the coattails theory and said the races will come down to good old-fashioned campaigning.

"I think it's going to be a race-by-race situation," Titus said. "More than ever, it's going to be a case of all politics is local. So those candidates who walk through their districts, visit schools, talk one-on-one with their constituents, are going to come out ahead."