Former governor Ben Cayetano would wipe out his rivals if Honolulu’s mayoral election were held today, according to new poll results published by Civil Beat.
Even if you’re not a regular CB reader, you should check this out.
Fifty-three percent of likely voters in Honolulu said that if the election were held today, they would support Cayetano, 15 points more than the total for his two opponents combined. Mayor Peter Carlisle has 21 percent support and former Acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell has 17 percent. Nine percent were unsure.
Honolulu’s $5.2 billion rail project will be “very important” for 70 percent of the voters in deciding whom to support for mayor, the poll found. Eighteen percent said it was “somewhat important.” Just 9 percent of the voters said it wasn’t important, with 4 percent unsure.
Cayetano, a Democrat, ran strongly among Republicans and those opposed to President Obama.
The poll found opposition to Honolulu’s rail project at the center of Cayetano’s appeal to voters.
You’ve got to wonder whether this kind of public sentiment will come back to bite Mufi Hannemann, whose made the decision to dump the previous plan for bus rapid transit in favor of fast-tracking Frank Fasi’s 40-year old rail plan.
There’s a lot of meat on these poll results.
Check them out. Then return here to share your comments.
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You don’t have to be an engineer to realize the rail will not reduce congestion where it does not run. It will not reduce traffic out of Waianae, out of Hawaii Kai, on the Pali from Kailua, and not even from Central Oahu. And where it will be built, most residents will still probably opt to drive. This is what happens when politicians are given the ability to spend money that isn’t theirs. They literally go crazy. Carlisle could probably win if he were wise enough to admit this is a bad idea as configured, and no pun intended, stop it in its tracks. But he doesn’t seem beholden to the people. He seems to answer to other interests.