While much political polling has focused on the presidential election, voters in nearly every state are voting on statewide ballot measures this election. There are 159 statewide ballot measures in 41 states. A new YouGov survey asked Americans whether they would support or oppose 20 statewide ballot measures that would change a state's policy on abortion, workers’ rights, sales taxes, school choice, and more.
The measure that has the most support among Americans — of the 20 included in the poll — is requiring employees to provide paid sick leave for employees: 78% would support a ballot measure doing this in their state. Voters in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska will be voting on ballot measures or initiatives that require employers to provide paid sick leave this election. (Because some ballot measures would put in place measures that already exist in some other states, respondents were instructed, "If the following wouldn't be applicable in your state, please answer with how you would vote if it were applicable.")
Other measures with widespread support include ensuring the state constitution doesn't legalize slavery and involuntary servitude as punishments for crime (73%) and requiring that anyone convicted of child sex trafficking must receive a sentence of life imprisonment (72%). 71% would support a measure exempting diapers from sales tax, 66% would support increasing their state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, and 65% would support establishing that all K-12 children have the right to school choice, including public, charter, and homeschooling.
None of the 20 measures asked about is opposed by a majority of Americans. The ballot measures with the most opposition are one that would make school board elections partisan rather than nonpartisan (22% support, 36% oppose) and another that would decriminalize the personal use of natural psychedelic drugs, such as mushrooms, for people who are at least 21 (41% support, 36% oppose).
Among the biggest differences between Democrats and Republicans: 85% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans would support a ballot measure implementing a tax on firearms dealers and manufacturers to be used for victim services programs. 78% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans would support providing for a state constitutional right to abortion. 79% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans would support increasing the state’s minimum wage to $18 per hour.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support a ballot measure that prohibits abortion after the first trimester, except in cases of medical emergencies or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest (77% vs. 37%).
Of the 20 measures asked about, the one that Democrats are most likely to support would require employers to provide paid sick leave for employees (92%). 66% of Republicans would also support this. The ballot measure Republicans would be most likely to support is one requiring that anyone convicted of child sex trafficking must receive a sentence of life imprisonment (81%). 72% of Democrats would also support this.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
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- Where Americans stand on 2022 statewide ballot measures: abortion, guns, voting, and more
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on October 23 - 25, 2024 among 1,139 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
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