OCTA Says Voters Want to Let Measure M Ride

Extending Measure M -- a local sales tax that has raised billions of dollars for transportation projects -- has enough support among Orange County voters to pass in an election, a new survey shows.

The survey, released Thursday by the Orange County Transportation Authority, contradicts two earlier polls that indicated that support for Measure M falls well short of the two-thirds majority required for passage under state law.

Approved by voters in 1990 on its third try, Measure M is expected to raise about $4.2 billion for transportation projects by the time it expires in 2011. OCTA officials are planning to place a 20- or 30-year extension on the ballot in the next few years.

Pollster J. Moore Methods found that 71% of voters supported renewing the initiative when they were provided a list of projects that could be funded. Absent that list, the survey found support for the extension dropped to 56%. J. Moore Methods surveyed a random sample of 1,000 likely voters in November after the election. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5%.

Arthur T. Leahy, OCTA’s chief executive, said the findings are perhaps more valid than earlier surveys because voters were told of the types of projects Measure M could fund.

In November, a Cal State Fullerton poll showed that 70% of Orange County voters were pleased with the road and transit projects paid for by Measure M. But only 46% said they would vote for an extension of the initiative. Less than a week later, pollsters at San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California released similar findings, except 56% of voters said they would approve an extension.

The half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax in Orange County has raised more than $2.3 billion.