Survey: Most Kansans OK with gays, oppose school block-grant funding

A statewide survey of Kansans suggests a strong shift in attitudes toward gay rights over the past 10 years, with nearly half of respondents now embracing same-sex marriage and a majority opposed to letting businesses refuse service to gay people.

The far-ranging survey by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University also showed that a strong majority opposes guns on college campuses, most respondents think block-grant funding has hurt Kansas schools, and almost twice as many Kansans would rather create a path to citizenship for “undocumented immigrants” than try to deport them all.

The survey also found that most Kansans want to see top income earners and corporations pay higher taxes.

And, in one of the most striking results in the heavily Republican state, the survey found that only 18 percent of residents were “very” or “somewhat satisfied” with Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. That was worse than the rating for President Barack Obama, for whom 28 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction.

Bob Beatty, a political scientist at Washburn University, told the Topeka Capital-Journal that Brownback’s poll numbers were “epic.”

“This could be some of the lowest approval ratings of any Kansas governor in history,” he said.

The results of the Kansas Speaks survey, released Friday, appear to show a broad disconnect between what Kansans say they want and what they actually get from the conservative Republicans they consistently elect to state office, said Gary Brinker, a Fort Hays State sociology professor and director of the Docking Institute.

“In almost every iteration of Kansas Speaks, well over half, usually close to two-thirds of the respondents want to raise taxes on corporations and the top earners,” Brinker said. “That’s one of the things the governor and the Legislature gave them the exact opposite of most recently.”

The survey interviewed 638 randomly selected Kansans 18 and older by land line and cellphone and has a 3.9 percent margin of error.

▪ Gay rights: One of the most striking findings is that 47 percent of Kansans surveyed favor same-sex marriage and 21 percent would favor civil unions that wouldn’t be called marriage but would grant marital rights to gay couples.

About a third, 32 percent, expressed total opposition to same-sex marriage or similar legal arrangements.

The survey results indicate a substantial change from 2005, when 70 percent of Kansas voters passed a state constitutional amendment to ban both same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Despite that amendment, Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriage was struck down this year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such laws violate federally guaranteed constitutional rights.

On the ongoing question of whether Kansas should allow private businesses to refuse service to gay couples because of religious objections to their lifestyle, survey respondents mostly sided with gay couples.

A slight majority, 51 percent, said businesses should have to provide the same services to same-sex couples as they provide to heterosexual couples. Seventeen percent said they should be required to provide the same services unless it involves direct participation in a same-sex marriage ceremony.

As with the overall gay-marriage question, 32 percent support allowing businesses to deny all service to gay couples on the grounds that serving them would violate their religious beliefs.

▪ Taxes: People aren’t happy with Brownback’s tax plan.

Sixty-one percent characterized Brownback’s reforms of the tax code as a “failure” or “tremendous failure.” Only 7 percent rated his plan a “success,” and a nearly invisible 0.2 percent said it has been a “tremendous success.”

Brownback’s plan reduced bracket rates overall and eliminated income taxes for owners of limited liability companies and corporations organized under Subchapter S of the federal tax code.

The bottom line for survey respondents: Nearly three out of four said their overall tax burden was higher than two years ago; 5 percent said it was lower.

Fifty-four percent said they wanted the sales tax on food eliminated, and more than six out of 10 said they wanted to see taxes raised on top income earners and corporations.

▪ Guns on campus: Fifty-eight percent said carrying weapons should be restricted to security personnel only. An additional 26 percent said universities should be able to restrict concealed and open carry on their campuses.

Only 16 percent said concealed or open carry should be allowed on college campuses.

Current law, passed this year, will require state universities to open their campuses to the carrying of firearms beginning in 2017.

▪ School finance: Seven percent of respondents said they think schools have been improved by the block-grant funding system proposed by Brownback and approved by the Legislature this year.

Nine times as many respondents, 64 percent, said block-grant funding has resulted in a lower quality of education. The remaining 29 percent saw no change.

The block-grant system, which essentially extended schools the same funding they got last year, was proposed by Brownback as a two-year stopgap to give the Legislature time to rewrite the state’s school-finance formula.

Four school districts have sued the state over block grants, and a three-judge school-finance court ruled earlier this year that the system fails to meet the state’s constitutional duty to provide adequate and equitable funding to schools.

That case is on appeal to the state Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear oral arguments in two weeks.

▪ Immigration: Survey respondents were asked their opinions on what to do about “policies regarding undocumented immigrants.” They favored a path to citizenship over blanket deportation by almost two to one.

Fifty-three percent favored a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. Twenty-seven percent agreed with deporting all undocumented immigrants.

Seven percent want to deport “most” undocumented immigrants, while 13 percent want to deport “some” of them.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Survey: Most Kansans OK with gays, oppose school block-grant funding."