Poll: SCPC readers strongly support key judicial, tax reforms

What issues are important to South Carolinians? It's a question the S.C. Policy Council (SCPC) takes seriously. Recently, we surveyed our members for their input on key state issues ahead of the 2024 legislative session, which begins January 9.

The online poll covered topics including judicial reform, taxes and spending, government transparency, taxpayer-funded incentives and school choice.

Judicial reform was the top issue among readers when asked about their biggest priority in the upcoming session. We find this encouraging, as strong public support will be key to fixing the issues that jeopardize the integrity of our courts.

Below are the survey results, sorted by category.

LEGAL REFORM

88% said they strongly disapprove or disapprove of letting lawyer-lawmakers determine our nominees for judicial office. (For context, the question explained that a majority of members on the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, the body that screens and nominates judicial candidates prior to election by the General Assembly, are lawyer-legislators.)
97% strongly supported or supported a requirement to publicly livestream hearings to screen and interview judicial candidates.
98% strongly agreed or agreed that lawyer-lawmakers should not present cases in front of judges they helped put on the bench.
66% strongly supported or supported requiring all South Carolina judges to have a law degree before taking the bench. (For context, the question explained that magistrates, probate judges and municipal judges are not currently required to have a law degree.)
92% strongly agreed or agreed that liability in civil cases should be based on fault, not ability to pay.

EDUCATION

86% strongly agreed or agreed that South Carolina should do more to expand school choice options for parents.
When told about a privately funded, tax-credit scholarship proposal under consideration that would pay for some K-12 education costs, including private school tuition and homeschool expenses, 77% said they strongly approve or approve of the program.
86% said they strongly support or support a bill under consideration that would let more parents enroll their children outside of their normally designated schools.

TAXES AND SPENDING

94% strongly agreed or agreed that lawmakers should take further action to speed up tax relief in 2024. (For context, readers were told that South Carolina still maintains the highest top personal income tax rate in the Southeast, despite tax cuts passed in 2022.)
In the event of a large state budget surplus next year, 80% said they favor using the surplus to reduce taxes, while 14% favored increasing government spending on programs like education, transportation and healthcare. 6% said they were unsure.
Apart from one "unsure" response, all readers said they strongly agree or agree that state agencies should have to explain their entire budgets each year. (For context, readers were told that agencies are supposed to summarize and justify their entire budgets, meaning current funding and newly requested money, each year when submitting their budget requests, but this law is not currently followed.)

OTHER

98% said it is very or somewhat important that government meetings are livestreamed to the public.
100% strongly agreed or agreed that South Carolina state government should be more transparent.
54% said they strongly disapprove or disapprove of using taxpayer dollars to fund incentive deals to recruit companies to South Carolina.
In a follow-up question, 97% said they strongly agree or agree that the public should have more transparency when it comes to using taxpayer dollars to recruit companies.
99% said it is very or somewhat important for South Carolina to strengthen its ethics laws to reduce corruption and abuse of power.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and left comments (we read them all!) Your feedback is extremely valuable and helps drive our work. It’s also important as we begin work on our next legislative scorecard, which will cover votes in the upcoming session. View our 2023 scorecard here.