10.22.2018

Independent Poll: Nurses Split on Q1; MNA Poll Off by 40%

Just as the HPC put the Question 1 cost debate to rest, recent independent polling from WBUR has finally punctured the MNA’s claim that nearly all nurses support the ballot question.

The WBUR poll from October 5-10 found a near dead heat, with 48% of surveyed nurses saying they’d vote yes, and 45% voting no, with a margin of error of 4.4%.  Interestingly, 33% of the RNs surveyed were MNA members.  The Yes on 1 campaign had based much of its campaign on the inaccurate claim from its own poll – taken before Question 1 was even on the ballot – that 86% of nurses support Question 1. That poll has now been proven to be off by approximately 40 percentage points; the MNA’s cost estimate of Question 1 now has been proven to be off by approximately $950 million annually. The trend of spreading miscommunication continued later in the week, as the Yes on 1 committee was forced to concede its advertisement “misrepresented reporting done by the State House News Service,” according to the news service.