Business groups fighting Metro’s proposed payroll tax on employers said Monday they believe they are winning over undecided voters, but a large proportion of the electorate remains on the fence about whether to support the tax, which would fund billions in transportation projects.

Stop the Metro Wage Tax, the business-backed group opposing Measure 26-218, said a poll of likely voters surveyed in the days since ballots were first mailed indicated 36% of likely voters support the tax measure. Meanwhile 41% of those surveyed were likely to vote against the payroll tax and 23% remain undecided.

The poll was conducted Oct. 15 through 18.

The opponents shared a one-page poll summary with reporters, the first known survey of voters conducted since ballots first started arriving across the metro region late last week. It indicated the share of likely supporters fell by 6 percentage points among the Portland region’s electorate since September 6, when an earlier poll was taken. Both surveys of 600 likely voters had a margin of error of 4%. Kevin Looper, one of the political consultants leading the opposition, said their campaign is working.

“What we’ve seen out of this is we’ve turned people who were yes votes into undecided,” Looper said, adding that other undecided voters have turned into no voters in the month and a half since the business groups shared a previous poll, both of which were conducted by Boise-based GS Strategy Group.

Read the full article in The Oregonian.