JACKSONVILLE, Fla — There's a town hall meeting to discus the local gas tax option Tuesday night which would increase the tax from 6 to 12 cents and allocate funds to road and transportation projects.
A new University of North Florida poll released Tuesday morning shows 58% of the Jacksonville voters surveyed oppose the bill. The poll also asked questions about possible mayoral candidates such as Matt Carlucci and Donna Deegan.
The poll was conducted by UNF’s Public Opinion Research Lab. Faculty Director Michael Binder says they surveyed 1,263 registered voters in Duval County 18 years or older from May 11 through 16.
“The big issue happening right now in Jacksonville is the proposed gas tax," Binder said. ”
While majority of people surveyed oppose the gas tax bill, a majority of them – 68% - support reallocating money freed up by the tax to go toward septic tank phase-out projects. So they want the money, but they don’t want to be taxed.
“We wanted to see where regular every day Jacksonville voters stood on this issue and the big takeaway from that is they’re not really invested in this," said Binder.
The gas tax revenue is proposed to help fund projects like the Skyway. expansion. The poll found that 87% think that less money should be allocated to the Skyway project than the original proposal which was set at 379 million dollars.
The Pubic Opinion Research Lab also asked about moving some of the gas tax revenue earmarked for the Skyway toward work on the Emerald Trail which is 30 miles of trails, greenways and parks connecting downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. 54% support at least $150 million going to the trail.
Binder says there is a caveat to the results. The survey went out during the Colonial Pipeline issues and people were rushing to the gas pumps so he says that could impact people’s opinion on the matter.
The poll also asked about the 2023 Mayoral election.
Binder says potential candidates were included on the list of responses if they have publicly announced running, expressed interest in running, or have been publicly discussed as possibly running in the 2023 Mayoral election.
Nearly 20% said they would vote for someone not on the list, but Democrat Donna Deegan and Republican Matt Carlucci garnered the most support.
"We threw several names out there," Binder said. "Again these people are not declared candidates, but we thought it would be interesting to get a sense of where the early field might lie. It was pretty interesting. Donna Deegan – name recognition matters and she has a slight edge over Matt Carlucci.”
Almost 19% said they would vote for Deegan and 18% for Carlucci.
The survey also asked about approval rating for local, state, and federal positions. 49% say they approve of President Biden’s job. Governor Ron Desantis received 50% approval. Mayor Lenny Curry received 48%.
Another topic at top of mind in Jacksonville is the renaming of schools. 52% said they support renaming schools, while 48% said they oppose either somewhat or strongly.
Read the full poll results here.