Pump Politics
Lawmakers should not expect their support of the federal gas tax repeal to translate into more voter support, reports the Hartford Courant. In a poll conducted by the paper, a majority of respondents indicated a candidate's support for rolling back the gas tax would make "no difference" in their ballot selection. About 25% of those polled said such support would make them "somewhat more likely" to support the candidate, and only 11% said it would make their support much more likely. The findings are interesting in light of CT's very high gas prices relative to the rest of the nation.The survey confirms strong suspicions that the recent gas tax drama was manufactured by Washington politicians and their media followers, not by citizens scraping pennies at the pump. Over half of those in the survey said they don't comparison shop for gas prices. In Congress last week, Georgia Rep. John Lewis reported that not one constituent had contacted him on the issue, and Senators have also reported low constituent pressure.
