This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 12:33 PM- Most Salt Lake County voters oppose a new deal to funnel $55 million in taxpayer dollars toward a Major League Soccer stadium in Sandy for Real Salt Lake.
At the same time, approval ratings for Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon - one of the architects of the stadium agreement - have risen, according to a poll conducted for The Salt Lake Tribune.
Fifty-four percent of county voters oppose the plan to tap old and new hotel taxes to help build a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, according to the survey conducted Aug. 22-24 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C.
The poll, which carries a 5 percent margin for error, shows 29 percent support the stadium deal, while 17 percent are undecided.
In June, a poll commissioned for The Tribune showed 68 percent of voters opposed using public funding for a stadium. That same survey gave Corroon a 63 percent approval rating. It came on the heels of the mayor's rejection of the first stadium finance plan.
Despite reversing course - Corroon argues the terms of the new deal are considerably more favorable - the mayor's approval rating has jumped to 72 percent, according to the new survey. However, an avalanche of nasty e-mails and phone calls collected by the mayor's office have criticized Corroon's "flip-flop." Residents who rated Corroon's job performance as "excellent" in the new poll remained the same - 19 percent - while voters giving the mayor "good" marks spiked 9 percentage points to 53 percent.