Question 2 Opponents Criticize Poll

Opponents of Question 2 on the statewide ballot question the accuracy of a Boston Globe poll published Sunday that said 49 percent of Massachusetts residents want to repeal the prevailing wage law.

Robin Leeds, director of outreach at the Committee for the Quality of Life, which is campaigning against the question, said the poll asked respondents if they thought construction workers on state projects should receive the "union wage," and not the "prevailing wage," thus skewing the results.

She said a Boston Herald poll had opponents of the referendum ahead by 9 percent, so "we're not all that concerned about [the Globe's] poll."

"There is no question we are going to win,"Leeds added.

Garv R. Orren, associate professor of publicpolicy at the Kennedy School and Peter H. Lemieux,lecturer of Political Science at M.I.T., conductedthe poll published in the Globe.

Orren said the poll was not meant to predictthe vote on the referendum, but "to tap theunderlying sentiment" of the voters. He said itwas "fairer to the public" to use the adjective,"union" instead of "prevailing," because it is"clearer to the people what `union wage' means."The polling question defined what is usuallycalled the prevailing wage but did not use theterm, Orren said.

To vote to keep the prevailing wage law, youvote no on the referendum, and to repeal it, youvote yes, Lemieux said. "It's complex over thetelephone. It has to be simplified." According toLemieux, since the prevailing wage, which involvesboth union and non-union workers, is tied to theunion wage, "it is not unreasonable to assume"that the one affects the other.

The same poll has 51 percent of the 619residents contacted opposed to Question 4, whichwould close the state's two nuclear power plants.Joseph Kriesberg, spokesperson for MassachusettesCitizens for Safe Energy, called his campaign moreof a long shot, and said that if the referendumwins 51 percent, "it will be the poll upset of thecentury."

Kriesberg said his group will send almost 4000volunteers to work the polls today. "We have donethe best job we can," he said.

No on 4 committee spokesperson Stephen R. Allensaid, "I think we are going to win, but it will beclose. We are certainly not going to run away withit."

Kriesberg said his organization has spent$400,000 trying to pass Question 4. But Allen saidNo on 4 has spent about $7 million