BOSTON — Massachusetts voters already indicated their support for empowering the state auditor to probe the Legislature at the ballot box last fall, and a new poll found they now overwhelmingly want Attorney General Andrea Campbell to get involved.
Nearly 81% of likely voters polled earlier this month said they think Campbell should “enforce the voter approved law to audit the [L]egislature,” according to a survey Advantage Inc. conducted for the Fiscal Alliance Foundation. A bit fewer than 8% said they don’t think Campbell should enforce the law, and 11% were unsure.
Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s attempts to pull back the curtain on Beacon Hill using the new powers granted by voters have been stalled for months as House and Senate Democrats describe concerns about constitutional separation of powers. DiZoglio has accused Campbell of not enforcing the law, while the AG said the auditor has not provided information needed to intervene in the dispute.
The Fiscal Alliance Foundation in December joined a coalition of groups that threatened a lawsuit to force the Legislature’s compliance with the audit law, but members have not filed any legal action.
The poll of 800 likely voters, conducted between March 6 and March 12 with a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points, took the temperature on other issues and politicians who could soon gear up for reelection.
About 57% of respondents said yes when asked if they believe “Massachusetts should repeal their estate tax,” and 56% also supported eliminating the state’s vehicle excise tax. Big majorities opposed Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to add a local-option surcharge of up to 5% on motor vehicle excise tax bills (78% opposed) and a section of Healey’s fiscal 2026 state budget that would impose a new pharmacy assessment (82%).
The budget rider would require each pharmacy to pay $2 per prescription dispensed, or 6% of the revenues the pharmacy receives per applicable period, and use the revenue to help fund MassHealth.
Paul Craney, executive director of the foundation, noted that support for enforcing the audit law and opposition to the pharmacy assessment were the only two questions where more than 80% of respondents agreed.
“These are very strong feelings by the voters. It’s nearly impossible to hit 80% in a poll and the Governor and attorney general better pay attention,” Craney said.
The poll found Massachusetts voters still dislike Republican President Donald Trump, with about 65% viewing him somewhat or strongly unfavorably. Healey, a Democrat, fared far better than Trump. Fifty-six percent of respondents viewed her somewhat or strongly favorably, compared to 36.6% who viewed her unfavorably.
Although more than 54% of voters signaled a favorable opinion of U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, a majority of about 55% said they do not think the 78-year-old should seek reelection in 2026 as he has said he will.
If Healey challenged Markey in a hypothetical 2026 Senate primary, 34.5% of respondents said they were more likely to support the governor, 20.6% said they were more likely to back Markey’s reelection and nearly 45% said they are unsure.
Voters were more split on another hypothetical primary between Markey and Congressman Jake Auchincloss, with the two about even and 50% of respondents unsure who they would pick.
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