Nevada voters oppose raising hotel room taxes to pay for a proposed $1.9 billion domed stadium that could potentially house the relocated Oakland Raiders, according to a new KTNV-TV 13 Action News/Rasmussen Reports poll.
The poll of 800 likely voters found that 52 percent opposed raising hotel room taxes to build the stadium, with 32 percent favoring the idea and 14 percent undecided.
The poll was conducted between Sept. 16 and 18, and after an advisory committee approved recommendations for the stadium plan to Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who is being pressured to quickly call a special session of the state Legislature to approve the deal.
Rasmussen polls historically have a Republican bias, according to a FiveThirtyEight ranking of polling groups.
Stadium backers led by Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson have proposed construction of a $1.9 billion domed stadium near the south end of the Las Vegas Strip that would house the UNLV football team and potentially the Raiders.
The proposal calls for $750 million in room taxes, $500 million from the Raiders and NFL and $650 million from Adelson. Sands representatives pledged to take care of any cost overruns and associated infrastructure costs from building the stadium, but said the proposed $750 million in room tax money is non-negotiable.
Any proposal raising taxes requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, which isn’t scheduled to meet until February 2017. Stadium developers say a special session, which must be called by Sandoval, is needed to put together a proposal relocating the Raiders in time for the NFL’s owners meeting in January.
Voters were specifically asked, “Do you favor or oppose increasing Las Vegas hotel room taxes to raise $750 million to help pay for a stadium to house the Oakland Raiders?”
Opposition to funding the stadium through tax dollars was unanimous across nearly all demographic lines, including 50 percent of voters polled in Clark County.
Voters who favored the stadium proposal were asked if they thought the level of taxes raised was too high, too low or just right. Of those voters, 58 percent said the amount proposed was “just right,” with nine percent saying it was too low and 20 percent saying it was too high.
Voters were also asked if voting to raise taxes for stadium construction would make them more or less likely to support their state legislator. Twenty percent said they’d be more likely to vote for legislators who approved the stadium deal, while 38 percent said an affirmative vote would make them less likely to support that legislator and 36 percent said it would have no impact..
The results echo an earlier 13 Action News/Rasmussen Reports poll from July, which found 55 percent of voters opposed to the concept of using up to $500 million in public funds to help build a stadium.
The 13 Action News/Rasmussen Reports poll has a four percent margin of error with a 95 percent level of confidence. The poll was conducted using a mix of 75 percent automated voice polling and 25 percent online responses.
Full crosstabs and demographic breakdown of polling results are available here.
KTNV will release additional polling results this week on topics including the presidential race, the U.S. Senate race, a ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana and voter opinion on recent action take to overhaul the Clark County School District.
