A new poll finds Idahoans split on the idea of reducing the two-thirds supermajority requirement for school bond issues.
Forty-four percent of respondents favored dropping the threshold to a simple majority, according to an Idaho Politics Weekly poll released Monday. Forty-nine percent of Idahoans oppose such a change, and the remaining 8 percent of respondents were undecided.
The Don Jones and Associates survey of 508 Idahoans, conducted in August, has a margin of error of 4.35 percent.
The survey revealed that Republicans oppose a change in the supermajority, by a 54-41 percent margin. The split was similar among respondents who identify themselves as political independents; 53 percent oppose the move, while 39 percent support it.
Democrats overwhelmingly support a reduction in the supermajority, by a 72-25 percent margin.
Reducing the supermajority would require a constitutional amendment — which figures to face an uphill battle in the Republican-dominated Legislature. An amendment would need to pass both houses by two-thirds majorities, and voters would have to ratify the amendment with a simple majority.
More reading: After falling just shy of a two-thirds majority in May, the Bonneville School District will take another run at a bond issue in November.
