Voters Aren’t Buying What Shapiro Is Selling

As inflation persists, Pennsylvania voters are rejecting increased government spending, according to new polling data released by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Pennsylvania voters want lower spending and lower taxes

Inflation and the rising cost of living remain Pennsylvanians’ chief concerns. With more than two-thirds of voters saying that high prices are eating away at their standard of living, it’s no wonder that a plurality reports their family is worse off than two years ago.

Unsurprisingly, voters concerned with living costs reject proposals that would take more money from their paychecks to fund government programs and subsidize special interests.

In particular, Pennsylvanians staunchly oppose Gov. Josh Shapiro’s latest budget proposal. Voters recognize that the governor’s $48.3 billion budget – with its $3 billion in spending increase and perpetual deficits – will result in higher taxes. Six in ten voters oppose his overall budget, and 61% say that his proposed spending increase is too much.

Rather than more spending, Pennsylvania voters favor the exact opposite. Nearly 90% say state lawmakers should cut excessive funding. Pennsylvania’s inner fiscal hawk has eyes set on several of Shapiro’s latest proposals.

Pennsylvanians are telling Shapiro to take a hike with his proposed mass transit bailout. A solid majority – 56% – oppose diverting $300 million from the 6% sales tax (or “Tax for Education,” designated originally for public schools) to failing transit agencies in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. These agencies have refused to address their myriad issues of declining ridership, safety and violence concerns, and dependency on state funding. Instead, they lobby for more dollars from drivers and rural taxpayers.

Not a single accomplishment

Nearly two-thirds of voters oppose raising taxes to fund Shapiro’s proposed $6 billion education funding boost. Also, a plurality of voters (45%) believes that Pennsylvania, which spends $22,000 per student – five times what voters estimated – already spends too much on public schools.

Pennsylvanians have mixed feelings about the governor’s performance. Though Shapiro enjoys high approval ratings, many voters – 53% – cannot cite a single accomplishment by the self-proclaimed get-stuff-done governor. Voters still overwhelmingly support several of Shapiro’s campaign promises, even if the governor has not yet delivered on them.

Eighty-one percent support Shapiro’s pledge to accelerate business tax cuts to make Pennsylvania “open for business” and more competitive for job creation.

Shapiro’s promise of educational choice remains popular among Pennsylvania voters. More than three-fourths of voters support the Lifeline Scholarship Program, which would empower students attending the state’s worst-performing schools to afford a school of their choice.

If money were no obstacle, most parents would choose private schools, and fewer than one in five would send their kids to a district school. Parents are hungry for educational options, and it’s past time our legislators provided kids with the educational opportunities they deserve.

Regulatory reform

As a candidate, Shapiro also promised to address regulatory reform – something many Pennsylvanians can get behind. Pennsylvania’s unfavorable regulatory environment is holding its economy back, and polling reflects this economic anxiety.

Nearly eight in ten voters support removing outdated, burdensome occupational licensing requirements, such as excessive training hours, costly licensing fees, and irrelevant degree requirements. Under a less onerous regulatory regime, makeup artists, nail technicians, barbers, and hair braiders could quickly start their businesses without jumping through so many hoops at the state level.

Loosening restrictions on telehealth is also wildly popular. Nearly 90% of Pennsylvanians support expanding access to virtual-based health care options – something Pennsylvania lawmakers temporarily granted during the COVID-19 pandemic but let expire.

Unfortunately, Shapiro has yet to deliver on such reforms. Aside from his “money-back guarantee,” the governor, to date, has kept Pennsylvania’s more than 166,000 regulatory restrictions untouched, leaving the commonwealth as the 12th most regulated state.

All in all, voters are sending a clear message to Shapiro: deliver what you promised as a candidate. Those promises – educational choice, regulatory reform, tax relief, flexible health care, and fiscal responsibility – are what voters want, not more government spending and massive new programs.

This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.