IssuesPa Poll

People have been talking a lot about some findings of a recent poll. The most talked about item is that Philadelphians distrust the government more than people in the rest of the state. While this is interesting, if not exactly startling, there is more in the poll than that. (To read it yourself go to www.issuespa.com

I jotted down these tidbits from the 7 page summary and 16 page analysis:

* Roughly a third (29%) of Philadelphians are taking mass transit more often due to increased gas prices.

* Statewide 62% like the idea of environmental regulations, i.e. open space, so I expect that will be on just about every candidate's priority list. I wonder how this will square with the amount of campaign contributions received from developers. Let's all remember to ask that question and to check candidate campaign finance filings (current and past) to see where there money is coming from.

* Statewide we are less concerned with international events so don't expect to hear much about foreign policy in the senate race. This unfortunate because we need to know what Santorum has done and what Casey and Pennacchio say they will do.

* Rick Santorum's mostly / very favorable rating statewide is 49%. His mostly / very unfavorable ratings is 28%, and 23% have never heard of him or had no comment.

* Bob Casey's mostly / very favorable rating statewide is 52%, mostly / very unfavorable is 13%, and 35% have never heard of him or had no comment.

There is a lot of good information in that poll and I encourage everyone to take a look. We depend too much on the MSM to pick out the important stuff.