Among the myriad reasons that supporters of a light rail system in Hillsborough County have suggested was a reason for the transit tax's abysmal failure at the polls last year was the fact that many voters confused the local initiative with the federal high speed rail project that was very much in the news at the same time a year ago.
Apparently, citizens throughout Florida have a hard time keeping two different ideas of rail in their head at the same time.
Across the I-4 corridor, where the federal government just provided some $78 million for the new $1.2 billion SunRail commuter train system, a new survey shows that many voters in Orange County were confusing it with the project that Governor Scott thwarted earlier this year. As the Orlando Sentinel reports:
A June 22 poll by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association asked 400 likely Orange voters what best described SunRail, and 36 percent correctly fingered it as a Central Florida regional commuter rail project. But 45 percent. thought it was a light rail venture between Orlando and Tampa — one that’s dead for now. Seventeen percent were unsure.
