Keeping in mind that this is an unscientific survey, Sen. Bill Doyle’s annual Town Meeting Day results are in, and survey says: Vermonters are quite solid on the notion that drivers should not be allowed to text.

The 96 percent who said it should be prohibited set Doyle Town Meeting poll history. No question in the survey’s 41-year history has ever received that kind of response, said Doyle, R-Washington.

A texting ban is in the works in the Legislature, though it is complicated by the fact that the House added a number of other driving restrictions to the bill that the Senate doesn’t like and they’ve got to work that out. The survey found 74 percent also thought prohibiting cell phone use while driving was a good idea.

Doyle’s survey, which attracted 12,500 responses from 150 communities, also found a shift in support for the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. This year, 52 percent said its license should not be renewed in 2012. Last year, only 37 percent thought that. There were also 17 percent this year who were unsure.

In other results, 53 percent said President Barack Obama was doing a good job; 49 percent did not think federal stimulus funds have been well-spent; 67 percent agreed with reducing Vermont’s prison population through alternatives; 43 percent said the University of Vermont should restore baseball and softball, but 40 percent were unsure.

- Terri Hallenbeck

Labels: Sen. William Doyle, vermont politics