Poll shows property-tax cut plan boosts Rendell’s approval rating

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Martha Raffaele
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG | A new law that legalizes slot-machine gambling to finance up to $1 billion annually in property-tax cuts has given Gov. Ed Rendell's approval rating a boost, according to an independent poll released Tuesday.

And while slightly more than half of the poll's respondents said they feel the $1 billion is a realistic goal, far fewer said they planned to play the slot machines.

Sixty-two percent of respondents to the Quinnipiac University poll said they support the new law, which authorizes 61,000 slot machines in Pennsylvania, while 32 percent said they disapprove. The survey also found that 54 percent approve of the way Rendell is handling his job -- the governor's highest approval rating since Quinnipiac's first poll of his administration in February 2003.

Thirty percent said they disapproved of Rendell's performance, while 15 percent were undecided. Quinnipiac's first poll also showed a 54 percent approval rating, 12 percent disapproval, and 33 percent undecided.

"Since he was elected, many voters have put their feelings about Rendell on hold, kind of a wait-and-see mode," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the university's polling institute. "This brings him back to where he was when he started. If the money comes in from the slot machines, there's a good chance it will go even higher."

more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-poll0713,0,6176265.story?coll=all-news-hed