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A South Carolina think tank which bills itself as the Palmetto State’s “longest-serving free market research organization” released fresh polling data this week which it believes should inform members of the S.C. General Assembly as they enter the thick of their 2025-2026 legislative session.
The S.C. Policy Council (SCPC) touts itself as “a leader in tax reduction and reform, private property rights, education reform, judicial reform, government deregulation, transparency and governmental accountability, and efforts to expand individual liberty.” The organization has been aggressive in promoting these views over the years – even if that meant running afoul of increasingly left-leaning “Republican” lawmakers.
On Thursday (February 6, 2025), the organization released an independent poll “directly engaging South Carolinians on the issues that matter most to them: state income taxes, government spending, civil liability reform, transparency, economic incentives, and more.”
According to SCPC, it wanted to cut through the noise of quadrennial presidential primary election surveys and engage Palmetto State residents on the issues that directly impact their lives.
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“Many national polling firms focus on the state’s GOP presidential primary seasons,” the group stated in a release accompanying the data. “However, critical insights into the policy priorities of South Carolinians are often overlooked.”
“That changes now,” the release noted.
What did the survey find?
“SCPC’s latest poll highlights strong public support for tax cuts, increased government transparency, and infrastructure improvements,” the release stated. “Voters broadly favor reducing or eliminating the state income tax and want all government meetings to be live-streamed and archived.”
“Voter sentiment also reflects a growing interest in legal and judicial reforms, including changes to liability laws and a transition to a federal-style judicial appointment system,” the release continued. “Meanwhile, energy policy remains a key issue, with support for nuclear power and a call for fairer electricity pricing for large consumers.”
Here are some of the key findings of the survey…
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TAXES AND SPENDING
Eliminating income taxes is popular among South Carolina voters with 62% of respondents in favor of reducing or fully eliminating the income tax, with 35% strongly supporting eliminating the income tax. 75% of respondents said that they strongly or somewhat support greatly reducing the state income tax.
Corporate welfare refers to financial incentives, such as tax breaks or subsidies, often provided to larger businesses to encourage investment or job creation. On the topic:
- 17% of respondents believed corporate incentives are an unnecessary expense that unfairly favors larger corporations over taxpayers.
- 42% of voters said corporate incentives can benefit the economy when carefully managed, but it is often overused or poorly targeted.
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CIVIL LIABILITY
South Carolina is one of the few states in the country that uses a modified version of joint-and-several liability. Under this system, one party can be held responsible for paying the entire judgment, even if other parties were also at fault. The polling showed that:
- 63% supported reforming the “joint-and-several liability” system to ensure financial responsibility is distributed based on each party’s proportional share of fault.
- 57% viewed the current system as unfair, while 33% believed it to be fair.
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EDUCATION
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) continue to be a focal point in South Carolina’s school choice debate. The polling revealed:
- 60% supported the measure.
- 28% opposed the measure.
- 12% remain unsure.
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TRANSPARENCY
Voters across the board favor increased transparency at the S.C. State House.
- 80% of voters believe that it is important that all government meetings in South Carolina are live-streamed and archived for public viewing.
- 12% reported being “very familiar” with existing transparency measures, while 38% report only general awareness.
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INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure investment remains a critical concern for South Carolinians:
- 69% ranked repairing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure as “very important.”
- 46% rated the state’s roads and highways as poor or very poor, while only 3% considered them excellent.
In the wake of severe flooding in 2024, 39% of respondents expressed confidence in South Carolina’s ability to withstand future flooding events. Voters highlighted key priorities for mitigating extreme weather effects:
- 47% supported enhancing drainage systems.
- 35% favored burying power lines.
- 33% backed strengthening the power grid.
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ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Energy policy has been a clear objective of the S.C. General Assembly over the past few legislative sessions. When asked if they support prioritizing nuclear energy as a key source of power for South Carolina, respondents answered:
- 51% strongly or somewhat supported the measure.
- 26% were neutral.
- 15% were strongly or somewhat opposed.
On electricity pricing fairness:
- 53% believed large energy consumers, such as tech companies, should pay rates proportional to their energy use.
- 24% favored a case-by-case approach based on economic impact.
- 14% supported offering discounted rates to incentivize investment.
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JUDICIAL REFORM
The survey revealed approval for overhauling South Carolina’s judicial appointment process. Currently, higher-level judges are selected by the Legislature. A proposed federal-style model, in which the governor appoints judges and lawmakers confirm them, garnered support from 41% of respondents, while 37% were unsure and 22% opposed the reform.
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A total of 1,201 registered voters in South Carolina were surveyed between January 22-31, 2025 by Targoz Market Research. The results were “weighted by demographics, party, geography, and behavioral measures to properly reflect the profile of the state.” Those surveyed received compensation for their responses.
The margin of error for the poll was +/- 2.77%.
My thoughts on the data? Many of the issues referenced on SCPC’s survey have been covered extensively in recent years – and are still being covered – by my media outlet. While it is certainly gratifying to see so many of those issues at the forefront of public debate – and even more gratifying to see significant public support for a number of pro-free market policies – the utter failure of “Republican” lawmakers to deliver meaningful results on any of these priorities is depressing.
GOP leaders at the S.C. State House clearly have other priorities…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Calling the Policy Council a “think tank” is on par with calling the Murdaugh family a charitable organization.
So, people want to pay less tax, but they want to spend more on infrastructure and accountability (which comes with additional cost)? Got it.
I guess we would have to cut services that are important to a portion of the population so we can spend more on services that are important to different people.