A new poll has found that while Americans believe it is beneficial to invest in the nation’s transportation infrastructure, they are strongly divided on how to fund these projects.
The Associated Press-GfK poll released August 5 surveyed 1,044 randomly selected adults in the U.S. over a five-day period in July. The poll found that:
- The most popular choice (30 percent) by respondents to pay for transportation projects was turning over the responsibility to state and local governments;
- 20 percent support replacing federal gas and diesel taxes with a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) tax;
- 17 percent support having private companies pay for transportation projects, in exchange for charging tolls to fund the projects;
- A majority (58 percent) of respondents opposed raising the federal gas tax to pay for transportation projects (14 percent support it);
- 67 percent of respondents find gas prices extremely/very important, with 21 percent saying it is moderately important to them and 10 percent saying it is slightly/not at all important to them;
- 59 percent believe that the benefits of good quality highways, railroads and airports outweigh the cost to taxpayers;
- 35 percent of respondents believe the quality of their roads and bridges is getting worse, with 38 percent stating that they believe the quality is the same and 25 percent believe that it is getting better;
- A majority of respondents (56 percent) believe that traffic in their area has gotten worse.
For more information on the Associated Press-GfK poll, visit: http://ap-gfkpoll.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AP-GfK-July-2014-Poll-Topline-FINAL-Transportation.pdf.