A recent Franklin & Marshall College poll had good news for Democrats and those who want stricter gun-control laws.
The Lancaster college’s Center for Opinion Research and Floyd Institute for Public Policy found that 48 percent were “very interested” in the mid-term elections this year and, of those voters, 53 percent favor Democratic candidates.
Overall, the poll determined that 42 percent said they expect to vote for Democrats while 35 percent said Republicans. Seventy-one percent said they were “certain to vote” in the November election while another 16 percent said they would “probably vote.”
Gov. Tom Wolf has considerable leads over the three Republicans running in the gubernatorial primary to challenge him in November. Wolf leads Ohio Township attorney Laura Ellsworth 51 to 22 percent and Paul Mango, a business executive from Pine Township, 49 to 22 percent with 25 percent undecided in each of those hypothetical races.
However, Wolf’s lead shrinks to 38 to 21 percent against state Sen. Scott Wagner of York County with 35 percent undecided. The primary election is May 15.
Forty-three percent of voters said Wolf is doing an excellent or good job, up from 38 percent in the college’s September poll. His favorable rating was at 50 percent compared to 36 percent in September.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, leads U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-11, Hazleton, 43 to 25 percent in a hypothetical match-up for the Senate seat this fall with 30 percent undecided. Apparently, the poll did not include state Rep. Jim Christiana, R-15, Brighton Township, who is running against Barletta in the Republican primary for Senate.
Casey has a 43 percent favorable rating with 25 percent unfavorable and 25 percent saying they did not know, compared to Barletta’s 14 percent favorable rating and 69 percent who said they had not heard enough about him to have an opinion.
Thirty percent of voters rated Casey’s job performance as good, 32 percent said fair and 7 percent said excellent. Eleven percent gave him a poor job performance rating.
President Donald Trump had 54 percent rate his job performance as poor, up 1 percent from September, while just 30 percent rated him as excellent or good.
When it comes to guns, the poll found that 86 percent of Pennsylvanians support tightening background checks, 61 percent back banning assault-style weapons, like the AR-15 that has been used in multiple mass shootings, and 59 percent support raising the minimum purchase age for a gun to 21.
The poll also asked about the view on natural gas drilling and the industry and determined that a majority, 53 percent, rated the industry as unfavorable compared to 47 percent favorable. Support for the industry has plummeted from 64 percent favorable in January 2014.
Also, 55 percent of voters — up from 37 percent in January 2014 — said the “potential environmental risks outweigh the potential economic benefits” of natural gas drilling while 30 percent said the benefits outweigh the risks.
And, just 29 percent — down from 38 percent in January 2014 — of voters said natural gas drilling has improved the quality of life in the communities where drilling is happening compared to 39 percent — up from 26 in January 2014 — that responded the quality of life was reduced.
The March poll of 423 registered voters in the state has a margin of error of plus or minus 6.8 percentage points.