The economy continues to rank among Washington’s top priorities, new poll shows
The economy continues to be the top issue Washingtonians want the Legislature to address during the upcoming session, new polling released Thursday shows.
According to pollster Stuart Elway, the economy ranked first regardless of age, income and education, with Republicans ranking the economy as the second-most important issue behind taxes. Washingtonians have selected the economy as their top priority for each of the last four years, and in five out of the last seven years.
The polling, conducted by Cascade PBS/Elway Poll ahead of the 2025 legislative session, comes as lawmakers will look to close an approximately $12 billion budget deficit over the next four years.
According to the data, 40% of Washingtonians attribute the gap in funding to waste and overspending by the government, while 23% say the most significant reason for the gap was inflation. An additional 14% said the need for services has outpaced what the government can provide.
“The bottom line is that people want government to work, and to provide needed services. But they want it done efficiently and effectively,” Elway said. “So, the debate about what those three terms mean: What does ‘needed’ mean? What does ‘efficiency’ mean? What does ‘effective’ mean? But basically, people are not anti-government.”
Given the choice between cutting expenses or increasing revenue, two-thirds of the state’s residents want lawmakers to close the budget deficit through cutting government programs, while 25% said the said the Legislature should raise taxes to minimize the impact.
If legislators do opt to increase taxes during the upcoming session, 57% of respondents would favor a tax on the wealthy, while 29% support increased taxes on businesses.
The results also shed light on how Washingtonians feel about the upcoming Trump administration, and some of the plans the incoming president touted while on the campaign trail. According to the polling, 51% of respondents said the return of President Donald Trump would have a negative impact on their life, while 44% said Trump’s presidency would have a positive impact.
“Given the fact that … Trump got (39%) of the vote here, this is somewhat a surprising result,” Elway said.
If Trump were to move forward on a large-scale deportation of undocumented immigrants, as he has proposed, 51% of Washington residents said the state should cooperate, while 40% said the state should resist.
The desire to cooperate was supported by nearly every age group, gender, education level and income level, except residents who completed grad school and those who make more than $150,000 a year. The plan was also favored by wider margins in areas outside of King County.