With less than a week left before voters in the Triad
area will decide whether they want to help pay for a new
ballpark, "the pro-stadium campaign has tightened the race
dramatically," according to David Rice of the WINSTON-SALEM
JOURNAL. A new poll of 438 likely voters found that 50% of
voters in Forsyth and Guilford counties oppose a tax on
prepared foods and baseball tickets to help pay for a
ballpark, while 43% support it. The telephone survey was
taken April 28-29 and was conducted for the newspaper by
Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research. It has a margin of
error of +/- 5%. The numbers show the gap has narrowed
since a similar poll last month which showed 61% against the
tax and 31% for it. But Rice writes that poll came before
the Twins played an exhibition game in the area and prior to
radio and TV ads that began to tout baseball. The survey
also showed that 22% of those who said they'll vote for the
proposal "made up their minds in the past week." Other
numbers showed a "sizable gender gap" over the ballpark as
53% of men surveyed favor the tax, while "just" 33% of women
support it. In another note, 4% of those who favor the tax
do so because they don't want Charlotte to get an MLB team.
Ballpark proponents will increase their GOTV efforts this
week and new TV ads featuring NASCAR drivers and Triad
residents talking about baseball are set to debut (WINSTON-
SALEM JOURNAL, 5/1). In related news, a new study by the
Univ. of NC-Greensboro shows that an MLB team could be
"successful in the region and improve the area's economy and
quality of life." But the study said it must include a
"fair lease that protects taxpayers." The study assumed an
average attendance of 18,000 (NEWS & RECORD, 4/30).
