09/02/2008
CONTACT: Michelle Bolton, 602-263-7690 or Tony Malandra, 415-664-9685
Protect Our Home, Majority Rules propositions also receive wide support
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Results from a poll of Arizona small business owners released today show big support for the medical choice, Protect Our Home, and "majority rules" propositions on the November ballot. The so-called Homeowners' Bill of Rights received a large "no" vote. And just in case the backers of the TIME proposition, which failed to qualify, want to try again, it too fails widely.
The poll was conducted late last month by the Arizona office of the National Federation of Independent Business, the state and nation's leading small business association.
"Ninety-six percent of NFIB/Arizona members supported our getting involved in four of the most important ballot propositions to small business owners this November," said Michelle Bolton, Arizona state director for NFIB. "And even though the TIME (Transportation and Infrastructure Moving Arizona's Economy) initiative was removed from the ballot, we think the 74 percent 'no' vote it received is important to publicize, because we expect the measure to return in some form or another."
Proposition 101, the Medical Choice for Arizona initiative, received the most votes in favor of it. By a margin of 83 percent to 7 percent, with 10 percent undecided, small business owners support its passage, which Bolton said is hardly a surprise. "Affordable healthcare has been small businesses' No. 1 concern for more than two decades in polls and surveys NFIB has conducted. Small business owners are tired of Congress' inability to alleviate the situation."
The Protect Our Homes initiative, Proposition 100, received the second highest amount of support, 80 percent, with only 11 percent voting "No" and the remainder undecided. The Majority Rules initiative, Proposition 105, received the backing of 62 percent of respondents, 21 percent said "No," and 16 percent were undecided. The so-called Homeowners' Bill of Rights measure, Proposition 201, won only 16 percent support, 69 percent were opposed to it and 15 percent were undecided.
"Proposition 201 is proof that voters are smarter than those who try to deceive them," said Bolton. "This is a lawyer's full-employment initiative, not a homeowners' bill of rights, and our poll confirms that people see for it for what it is. It is a direct assault on Arizona's tort laws being waged by unions that want to strip away -- among other things -- the state's loser-pays provision that has been hugely successful in keeping lawsuit abuse down."
