State senator still at it with Doyle Town Meeting poll
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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: February 27, 2008
MONTPELIER — "How many people here think drivers should be prohibited from using cell phones?" Sen. William Doyle, R-Washington, asked the crowd of town moderators, clerks and other municipal officials Tuesday morning.
A strong majority of hands flew up among the nearly 75 people in the room.
"I count about 58 percent," joked Doyle, after less than a second of head-counting.
Since his first year in the legislature in 1969, Doyle has taken the temperature of Vermonters via his annual Doyle Town Meeting poll — a list of just more than a dozen questions on the big issues of the day.
One week before Vermonters would set pen to paper to sound off on 2008's questions — which include the one on driving while chatting on a cell phone along with others on marijuana, same-sex marriage and presidential primary preference — Doyle gave participants at a Vermont League of Cities and Towns meeting a look into his historical folder of town meeting questions.
Doyle said he first launched the poll as he struggled with a bill proposed by then-Gov. Dean Davis to institute a sales tax. Doyle said he opposed a sales tax because he felt an income tax better reflected a person's ability to pay.
But when the poll came back 60 to 40 in favor of the sales tax, Doyle supported Davis' initiative.
"It was a difficult vote for any freshman senator," Doyle said.
Since then, the poll has expanded to more than 100 Vermont municipalities in all 14 counties during the town meeting season. About 10,000 people each year fill out the questionnaire at both town meeting and via copies of the form inserted in various state newspapers.
Each year's questions seem to reflect the top issues of the time — although there are questions that pop up year after year — a question on increasing the gas tax to fund roads and bridges pops up both in 1990 and on this year's list.
Questions during the 1970s often focused on the environment — including a 1974 question on rationing gas coupons and a 1976 question asking if smoking should be prohibited in parts of public buildings. War was on the mind of Vermonters during the early years of the '70s, as shown in a question from the poll's second year that asked if veterans should be given an additional $120 for their service in the "Vietnam crisis."
Many of the questions from the 1980s focused on economics, education and infrastructure, including a 1987 question on raising the interstate speed limit to 65 and a 1981 question on casino gambling in the state.
Questions during the 1990s often centered on recycling, mandatory seat-belt laws and some "hot button" issues, including questions in 1992 on welfare and abortions and a 1999 question that asked if minors who make bomb threats should be charged as adults.
Doyle noted the results of his polling can sometimes rival the results of scientific polls.
To prove his point, Doyle noted his town meeting poll in 2002 had Democratic candidate for governor Sen. Doug Racine beating now-Gov. James Douglas, the Republican candidate, by 1 percent. Scientific polls had Racine leading by a margin of up to 10 percent.
In the end, Douglas won by a narrow margin.
"Some of the political polls are so off that I just can't believe it," Doyle said. "So, I'll take my 10,000 town meeting votes over the 600 taken over the phone."
Before leaving the podium at the Tuesday morning meeting at the Montpelier Elk's Club, Doyle continued his informal poll of the crowd. Only a handful of hands went up on questions concerning Douglas and the Vermont Legislatures' job performances and not a single person in the crowd endorsed the governor's plan to lease out the state lottery.
"That's a 100 percent negative," Doyle said. "I think it is probably dead on arrival."
Turning to the presidential candidates that Vermonters will choose from next week, Doyle polled the crowd on their preferences for the top two candidates from each party.
Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama received a few raised hands, but it was Sen. John McCain who appeared to be the top preference of the crowd there that morning (former Gov. Mike Huckabee received no hands of endorsement).
"What about Ron Paul?" yelled out one man from the crowd, to some laughter.
Doyle smiled and nodded.
"I hear he may be making a surge in the final week in Vermont," Doyle joked.
Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com.