Poll of over 1,000 likely voters found deep support across party lines for candidates committed to prohibiting campaign contributions from key corrupting industries (74%) and corporate PACs and lobbyists (70%), and that the perception of whether a candidate is beholden to big money interests or not is more important than Party affiliation
Links to polling memo and full results
HONOLULU, HI — Nearly three in four Hawaii voters would more likely choose candidates who refused to accept campaign donations from out-of-state developers, major landowners, energy companies, and hotel conglomerates according to a recent poll by Our Hawaii PAC. Nearly half (49%) indicated that they would be “much more likely” to support a candidate who refused such a donation. The survey of 1,056 Hawaii likely voters conducted between July 13th to 21st by nationally acclaimed Data For Progress, one of the 2020 election cycle’s most accurate pollsters, tested the major planks of The Our Hawaiʻi Pledge, now embraced by 45 candidates across all islands.
“As local working people, we know big money campaigning hasn’t been delivering for our interests. Now we’re letting politicians know, big money campaigning has got to go,” said Alani Bagcal, an organizer with Our Hawaiʻi. “Politicians must reject big money contributions and bribes, and embrace a transformative agenda. They need to cut housing and energy costs, protect the environment, and end the pay-to-play corruption that centers personal gain and tourism over the Native Hawaiian and local people. If candidates run vigorously on these commitments, voters will reward them for it this August and November.”
The poll explored an array of hot-button issues beyond the influence of money in politics. The survey revealed that high percentages of voters would be more likely to vote for candidates who supported the following policies and positions:
These results underscore the immense popularity of The Our Hawaiʻi Pledge which launched and was sent to every candidate for office on June 12th. The Pledge asks candidates to “be an independent voice and advocate for kamaʻāina” and stand against “pay-to-play special interest corruption” by rejecting contributions over $100 from from corporate PACs and lobbyists, and the executives of luxury and out-of-state developers, major landowners, hotel conglomerates, energy monopolies, and military contractors and championing the “Solutions for Our Hawaiʻi” policy agenda. Every component of the Pledge had majority support and would increase voters' likelihood of voting for a candidate by between +30 and +70 points. Nearly every item had net support across Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike.
“Throughout Hawai’i, we find voters across the political spectrum support a wide swath of forward-looking reforms addressing problems facing the state — including removing bias and outside influence from state politics, improving state tax policy to account for tourism’s impact on the state, and addressing the need for affordable housing,” said Brian Burton, Senior Analyst at Data for Progress. “These findings demonstrate that voters will reward politicians who back these reforms this Fall.”
Likely primary and general election Hawaiʻi voters listed their top 3 issues as affordable housing (26%), inflation/rising energy prices (23%), and government corruption (8%). Accordingly, voters were most likely to support candidates with plans to address the housing crisis and reign in government corruption through campaign finance reform, like banning corporate contributions and enacting fully publicly financed elections. Accelerating the transition to 100% clean electricity and transit by 2035 to cut energy costs also received significant support (62%, +43).
For candidates, emphasizing their own campaign’s commitment to rejecting big money campaign support was one of the most important commitments they can make to increase the likelihood of voter support. 74 percent of voters said they’d be more likely to support a candidate who refused campaign donations from out-of-state developers, major landowners, hotel conglomerates, and energy companies and 70 percent of voters said they’d be more likely to support a candidate who refused donations from lobbyists and corporate PACs. Notably, calling out specific industries by name makes voters more likely to support a candidate than a broad appeal to rejecting corporate influence, particularly amongst Independents, where there was an 11-point increase amongst the two options polled. Only backing government investments in housing performed better than these commitments.
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Our Hawaiʻi is a new organization building a movement to create a Hawai'i that puts kamaʻāina and kānaka maoli — not big money interests — first. Grounded in our past and looking towards our future, and rooted in shared values of aloha, kuleana, and mālama pono. We educate, organize, advocate, and engage in elections to expose the corruption and complacency holding our islands back and advance an agenda to make Hawai'i work for all of us, not just the wealthy few.
Our Hawaiʻi PAC is working to elect candidates who have championed the Our Hawaiʻi Pledge, earlier this month announcing a slate of endorsements for county council, state legislature, Governor, and Congress and electoral activity ranging from TV and radio advertisements, to mailers, to grassroots organizing activity. We also just launched a new tool on our website to allow all voters to enter their address to see who on their ballot has taken the Our Hawaiʻi Pledge and received the Our Hawaiʻi endorsement.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Contact: Evan Weber, 808-224-0644, evan@our-hawaii.org
https://our-hawaii.org