Poll Shows Pennsylvanians Demand A New Path Forward
More than 8-in-10 support Trump proposals, including tax cuts, regulatory relief, and an end to Biden policies that have crippled energy production.
Voters overwhelmingly support initiatives Shapiro promised as a candidate but has failed to deliver, including tax relief (85%) and Lifeline Scholarships (83%).
71% oppose new energy taxes that could increase electric utility rates by up to 30%, including those imposed by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Shapiro’s proposed Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER).
Commonwealth Foundation’s 30-point policy plan draws broad bipartisan backing, with strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents supporting the policies.
Harrisburg, Pa., January 23, 2025 — The Commonwealth Foundation today released a policy roadmap to help Pennsylvania lawmakers deliver prosperity and opportunity to voters frustrated with leadership failures in Harrisburg and Washington, DC.
The Better Pennsylvania plan offers 30 popular, bipartisan solutions and reforms to address the economic, education, energy, and budgetary challenges that lead many Pennsylvanians to flee the state.
Read the Commonwealth Foundation’s Better Pennsylvania plan here and its latest statewide Pennsylvania policy survey here.
These include measures to help low-income children escape failing schools, cut taxes to unleash economic development, empower Pennsylvania’s energy sector to prioritize affordability and security, and ensure that workers are no longer at the mercy of special interest groups.
The agenda includes several initiatives that Gov. Josh Shapiro said he supported during his campaign for governor but has failed to deliver on during his time in office, including reducing Pennsylvania’s Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) and enacting Lifeline Scholarships.
“Pennsylvania should be leading the nation, yet our commonwealth has fallen behind and families are leaving for states with a lower cost of living, more competitive job environment, and better educational options,” Commonwealth Foundation Vice President Elizabeth Stelle said.
“The Better Pennsylvania plan provides a roadmap for policymakers, articulating 26 state and four federal policies with overwhelming, bipartisan support that will set the commonwealth on a path to a more prosperous future where all Pennsylvanians can thrive,” Stelle said. “Pennsylvanians are demanding change. It’s time for lawmakers to deliver.”
Commonwealth Foundation Senior Vice President Erik Telford added:
As state lawmakers embark on the final legislative session of Gov. Shapiro’s term, Pennsylvanians are demanding a new path forward and an end to the partisan gridlock. Shapiro has said he’s ready to work with President Trump. Is he ready to live up to his campaign pledge of working with Republicans and Democrats in Harrisburg? Pennsylvanians are eager for Shapiro to deliver on a laundry list of unfulfilled campaign promises from regulatory reform, to tax cuts, and scholarships for poor kids in low performing schools.
Pennsylvanians went to the ballot box demanding a new direction at the state and federal level. More than 8-in-10 voters support key Trump proposals including renewal of the tax cuts enacted during his first term, regulatory relief, and an end to policies that have crippled energy production. Eighty-four percent support ending Biden’s pause on exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which Trump has since reversed on his first day in office.
The policies outlined in this agenda are not just politically effective, but popular with Democrat, Independent, and Republican voters. A list of policy proposals from the Better Pennsylvania Agenda follows below, along with the level of total voter support for each policy.
| Policy Proposals | Total
Support |
| EXCELLENT EDUCATION FOR ALL | |
| (EXPAND TAX CREDIT SCHOLARSHIPS) Expanding tax credit scholarships, which allow businesses to donate money to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to low-income and middle-income children in Pennsylvania to attend pre-kindergarten or K-12 private school. |
88% |
| (LIFELINE SCHOLARSHIPS) Creating education opportunity accounts, a government-funded account that parents can use for restricted educational expenses, including tuition, tutoring, and services for students with special needs. | 83% |
| (REFUNDABLE TAX CREDITS) Providing a refundable income tax credit that gives money to families to spend on the direct needs of their child, including private tuition, online education programs, tutoring, curriculum, and therapies. Low-income families would be eligible for up front relief. | 81% |
| (CHARTER SCHOOL INDEPENDENT AUTHORIZER) Establishing an independent authorizer for charter schools, such as a state board or universities, which would approve and renew charter schools; rather than the current system in which only school districts can approve charter schools. |
79% |
| (OPEN ENROLLMENT) Enacting open enrollment policies to allow Pennsylvania families to choose any public school that best fits their children’s needs, regardless of home address. | 75% |
| UNLEASH A MORE PROSPEROUS PENNSYLVANIA | |
| (REDUCE REGULATORY RED TAPE) Requiring a vote by the state legislature to approve any new state regulation that would cost more than $1 million. | 83% |
| (TAXPAYER PROTECTION ACT) Adopting a Taxpayer Protection Act to ensure Pennsylvania’s state spending is responsibly managed in line with the rate of inflation and population growth. | 93% |
| (PRIORITIZE TAX RELIEF) Reducing Pennsylvania’s Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT), a tax on business profits, from one of the nation’s highest rates at 7.99%, while lowering the Personal Income Tax to 2.8%. This would be paired with zero-based budgeting, to ensure every dollar of state government spending is supported. | 85% |
| SOLUTIONS FOR RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY | |
| (AVOID CARBON TAXES) Opposing new taxes on energy that could increase electric utility rates by as much as 30%, including those imposed by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the proposed Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act (PACER). | 71% |
| (CREATE GRID RELIABILITY STANDARDS) Advocating for legislation in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to create an electricity reliability standard that doesn’t favor any specific energy source and focuses on the most affordable ways to generate power. | 88% |
| (REJECT SUBSIDIES) We should reject government programs and taxpayer funded subsidies for politically favored energy industries that drive up costs and make electricity distribution more unreliable. Doing so will address rising energy prices and growing blackout risks in Pennsylvania, ensuring affordable and reliable power for residents. | 80% |
| PROTECT THE DIGNITY OF WORK | |
| (IMPLEMENT WORK REQUIREMENTS) Requiring healthy adults (excluding seniors, individuals with disabilities, and those with young children) who receive welfare benefits to work, seek work or job training, or volunteer in their communities to continue receiving benefits. | 84% |
| (REGULAR WELFARE ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION) Ensuring that individuals are eligible for welfare by verifying income, residency and household composition twice a year. | 86% |
| (FOCUS MEDICAID ON HEALTHCARE) We should reject proposals to expand Medicaid to pay for non-healthcare expenses such as housing and food services at the cost of more than $1 billion annually. | 63% |
| (EXPAND SCOPE OF PRACTICE) Allowing certified nurse practitioners in Pennsylvania to work without the supervision of a doctor to increase access to health care. | 68% |
| (REMOVE BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT) Reducing outdated Pennsylvania licensing restrictions that prevent Pennsylvanian’s from getting a job. | 82% |
| MAKE GOVERNMENT MORE ACCOUNTABLE AND TRANSPARENT | |
| (DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PENSION PLANS) Enrolling all newly hired government employees into a 401(k) style retirement plan, similar to what most employees in the private sector receive, instead of a guaranteed pension for life, to create predictable and affordable retirement benefits.* | 86% |
| (PRIVATIZE LIQUOR AND WINE SALES) Removing government control of the sale and distribution of wine and liquor by selling all state-run liquor stores, and allowing private retail stores and wholesalers to sell alcohol.* | 76% |
| (MODERNIZE ELECTION LAW) Modernizing Pennsylvania election laws to include voter identification; clear voting deadlines; and consistent rules for mail in ballots.* | 91% |
| (JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM FOR SAFER COMMUNITIES)Reforming Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system to encourage alternatives to institutionalization, such as community-based rehabilitation programs for first-time and low-risk offenders.* | 93% |
| RESTORE PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS | |
| (PAYCHECK PROTECTION) Stopping the use of taxpayer-funded public payroll systems to collect campaign contributions and other funds that government union leaders use for political purposes. | 88% |
| (WORKERS’ CHOICE) Requiring state and local governments notify all employees of their legal rights to join or not join a union. | 91% |
| (NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS) Requiring state and local governments notify all employees of their legal rights to join or not join a union. | 94% |
| (FREEDOM TO RESIGN) Allowing government union members the right to end their union membership at any time. | 85% |
| (PROTECT PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ PERSONAL INFORMATION) Keep public employees’ personal information (such as home address, cell phone, and social security numbers) private and secure, and oppose union executives’ proposed legislation requiring employers to provide unions with contact details that would expose union members to unwanted solicitations and cyber threats. | 91% |
| (WORKERS’ BILL OF RIGHTS) Support the Public Employees’ Bill of Rights, modeled after the federal “Union Member’s Bill of Rights,” to ensure greater transparency and accountability in public sector unions by giving employees the right to demand more insight into union operations and decision-making processes. | 92% |
| FEDERAL PRIORITIES | |
| (EDUCATION CHOICE FOR CHILDREN ACT) Support the Education Choice for Children Act to provide more education options for families. With Pennsylvania’s tax credit scholarship program facing a waiting list, a federal scholarship program would help low- and middle-income families access quality non-public schools, regardless of where they live.* | 83% |
| (TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT RENEWAL) Support the renewal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to prevent tax increases in 2026, including higher income tax rates, a lower child tax credit, and the loss of full expensing for capital investments.* | 80% |
| (LNG PAUSE AND THE EPA POWER RULE) Support energy affordability and security by ending policies that are crippling energy production, including the pause on exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG)and EPA regulations on power plants.* | 84% |
| (PERMITTING REFORM AND THE REINS ACT) Support regulatory relief by requiring a vote by the U.S. Congress for any new federal administrative regulation with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more, and reforming federal permitting policies to improve efficiency.* | 88% |
*Denotes question asked to split sample n=400 (half of the full survey n=800 sample).
###
The Commonwealth Foundation transforms free market ideas into public policies, empowering all Pennsylvanians to thrive.
