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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Poll: Idahoans grade legislative session, most choose C grade or lower

A new poll conducted for the Idaho Politics Weekly newsletter published by Zion Bank asked Idahoans how they’d grade this year’s legislative session. The results: Just 3 percent gave lawmakers an A, and 16 percent handed them a B. Thirty percent – the largest single group – awarded a grade of C.

Fourteen percent gave the session a D grade, and 10 percent an F. That means 54 percent thought lawmakers earned a C grade or below. In addition, 12 percent awarded an “incomplete” – the same grade Gov. Butch Otter said he’d give the session – and 14 percent weren’t sure; a special session is set for May 18 to address a crisis in the state’s child support enforcement system created when a bill died on a 9-8 vote in a House committee on the final day of the session.

The poll surveyed 606 Idaho adults April 22-30; it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percent, and was conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. It also found that Democrats actually were more approving of the session than Republicans, though the GOP heavily controls the Idaho Legislature, with 80 percent of the seats. Only 10 percent of Republicans awarded the session an A or B grade; among Democrats, more than 40 percent chose an A or B grade. Respondents from both parties matched on the “incomplete” grades, both at 12 percent. You can read a full report on the poll at Idaho Politics Weekly here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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