Approximately two-thirds of those participating in the 2006 House of Representatives State Fair Poll plan to support the state constitutional amendment, on the November ballot, to dedicate all funds from the state motor vehicle sales tax to transportation purposes. Less than one in five plans to vote no, and 15.5 percent are undecided or have no opinion.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, tax revenues are now deposited in the state's General Fund. Approximately 54 percent is distributed, by statute, to highways and transit.
During the 12-day run of the Minnesota State Fair, 6,580 fairgoers took the poll conducted by the nonpartisan House Public Information Services office. It is an informal, unscientific survey on a number of issues discussed in prior legislative sessions and may again be topics of discussion. While a majority of polltakers plan to vote for the constitutional amendment, 52.4 percent do not support a 10-cent per gallon increase in the state gasoline tax to fund transportation improvements. A little more than 41 percent said yes.
Voters strongly supported a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants; that pharmacists should not be permitted to refuse to fill a prescription because of ethical, moral or religious reasons; that farmers should notify adjacent landowners of the chemicals they plan to use on their fields and when an application will be performed; and that graduates in dentistry, family practice medicine or pharmacy should receive some type of incentive, such as housing assistance or lower student loan repayment rates, to practice for at least three years in Greater Minnesota.
Slightly more than half of voters support the exemption of veterans' military pensions from state income taxes, the imposition of a health-impact fee on alcoholic drinks to help defray alcohol related costs to the state, and they believe that drivers under age 18 should be restricted on the number of passengers under age 21 in the vehicle.
Two education questions were met unfavorably by the majority of polltakers: 57 percent believe that immigrant students who are not legalized citizens should not be permitted to pay the less-expensive resident tuition at public colleges or universities; while 46.7 percent do not believe that Minnesota's school year should be expanded with students given a shorter summer vacation and longer breaks during the year, 41.3 percent would like it expanded and 12 percent are undecided.