62% of Likely Voters Support a Job Licensing Review
As the Nebraska Legislature considers Sen. Laura Ebke’s Legislative Bill 299—an oversight process for state job licensing laws—a new Platte Institute poll shows that 62% of Nebraska voters support requiring the Legislature to review the state’s job licensing requirements on a regular basis.
Click here for more info about LB299.
Polls of likely voters taken across eight state legislative districts show a consistent level of agreement on the need for lawmakers to scrutinize laws that might create barriers to careers for Nebraskans.
Support for the Legislature to review job licensing remains strong across the partisan divide as well, with:
- 67% support among Republicans
- 64% support among Democrats
- and 60% support among Independents
These figures also remain consistent across different legislative districts:
- 66% support in District 3 (Sen. Blood, Bellevue)
- 60% support in District 6 (Sen. Thibodeau, Omaha)
- 64% support in District 13 (Sen. Wayne, Omaha)
- 62% support in District 21 (Sen. Hilgers, Lincoln)
- 63% support in District 37 (Sen. Lowe, Kearney)
- 57% support in District 41 (Sen. Briese, Albion)
- 63% support in District 43 (Sen. Brewer, Gordon)
- 65% support in District 49 (Sen. Murante, Gretna)
Only 19% of Nebraskans oppose requiring the Legislature to regularly review the state’s job licensing requirements, while 19% are unsure.
Voters are also nearly 3 times as likely to say they would show more support for their state senator if they backed a review of job licensing requirements, than they were to say it harmed their support for their senator.
50% of Nebraskans said support for a job licensing review would make them more likely to support their Nebraska state senator. Only 17% said supporting the policy would make them less likely to support their senator.
“Job licensing reform is sometimes a bitter fight in state legislatures, but these new poll results show that voters are in strong support of lawmakers taking a closer look at the state requirements Nebraskans need to follow to get a job or start a business,” said Jim Vokal, Chief Executive Officer of the Platte Institute.
“In addition to creating more pathways to a paycheck for hardworking Nebraskans, job licensing reform is also a winning policy across party lines,” Vokal said.
Below are the number of voters surveyed in each district, and the margin of error for each poll:
- District 3: 408 voters ± 4.81%
- District 6: 445 voters ± 4.6%
- District 13: 432 voters ± 4.67%
- District 21: 399 voters ± 4.87%
- District 37: 308 voters ± 5.55%
- District 41: 295 voters ± 5.67%
- District 43: 414 voters ± 4.78%
- District 49: 392 voters ± 4.91%
And here’s information about the voters who participated in the survey in each district:
| Party | ||||||||
| District | 3 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 37 | 41 | 43 | 49 |
| Republican | 44% | 40% | 29% | 42% | 56% | 59% | 61% | 48% |
| Democrat | 29% | 37% | 46% | 34% | 23% | 25% | 18% | 26% |
| Independent | 27% | 23% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 16% | 21% | 26% |
| Age | ||||||||
| District | 3 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 37 | 41 | 43 | 49 |
| < 44 | 23% | 18% | 17% | 22% | 21% | 17% | 19% | 24% |
| 45 – 64 | 38% | 34% | 37% | 40% | 33% | 34% | 37% | 40% |
| 65 + | 39% | 48% | 46% | 37% | 46% | 49% | 44% | 36% |
| Gender | ||||||||
| District | 3 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 37 | 41 | 43 | 49 |
| Male | 50% | 49% | 48% | 49% | 49% | 48% | 48% | 48% |
| Female | 50% | 51% | 52% | 51% | 51% | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Click here for the complete polling data, the telephone survey script, and the methodology.