Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Good Morning.

Polls followed by polls. Washington state could make history a few weeks from now if voters decide to legalize pot or approve same-sex marriage. How likely are either of these events? Well, the latest KING-TV SurveyUSA poll shows gay marriage with 54 percent support and the pot legalization with 55 percent support. Majorities, yes, but many voters are still undecided.

Proponents of the gay marriage measure will tell you that despite positive polling numbers, a concern remains that people may not understand the fact that to support same-sex marriage, voters have to approve Referendum 74.

The poll was conducted Oct. 12-14 among 543 likely statewide voters and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent.

The other two ballot measures, Initiative 1240, which would allow charter schools, also was ahead in the latest poll, with 54 percent, but another poll released this week, The KCTS 9 Washington Poll, showed charter schools with 49 percent backing and pot legalization, regulation and taxation with 47 percent. The gay marriage measure in The Washington Poll, was leading by 54 to 38 percent, but when additional questions were asked to determine if people were being truthful support dropped slightly.

Ballots are going out, turnout shall be robust: Secretary of State Sam Reed is expecting big participation in the upcoming first all vote-by-mail presidential/gubernatorial election in Washington.

Here is an email from Reed spokesman David Ammons:

 ”Secretary of State Sam Reed on Thursday predicted a robust voter turnout of 81 percent in the General Election that is currently under way.  He said Washington voters will be attracted by highly competitive races for president and governor, hot races for Legislature and Congress, and some of the most compelling ballot measures in the country.

Washington has over 3.85 million registered voters – an all-time high – and more are expected to be added, since new registrations are still being accepted in-person at county elections offices. About 120,000 new registrations have been added since the August primary.

Washington’s historic average for presidential/gubernatorial year turnout since 1952 is 79.2 percent.”

Source: Secretary of State

Facebook political ads: So Facebook has been offering political ads this busy election season. Question: Do those ads work. Talking Points Memo cites a study conducted by two researchers at Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, that says Facebook users don’t exactly spend a lot of time on the site actually looking at,  absorbing, political ads. Do you pay attention to Facebook political ads?