As the North Dakota Legislature begins its "second half" this week, its members may want to consider some informal insight into the public's impression regarding the lawmakers' performances during the first half.
An unscientific poll on The Dickinson Press Web page asked people "How would you rate the work of the North Dakota Legislature as it reaches the halfway mark of its current session?" The poll question was first posted on our Web page on Feb. 15 and people can still express their opinions in the poll archives.
As of mid-Thursday afternoon, 95 people had responded to this question, with a combined 68.42 percent rating the Legislature's performance as poor to very poor. Lawmakers were seen as doing an excellent to good job by 31.58 percent of the respondents.
Again, the poll is unscientific, but timely in that lawmakers make adjustments for the second half of the legislative session just like most coaching staffs do for sports teams. We don't know for sure what it is the respondents are particularly dissatisfied about regarding the Legislature so far. But we can point to a couple of other polls that contradict outcomes that took place during the first half of the current session.
In responding to a question regarding baiting of big game in the state, 71.9 percent of 121 respondents so far have said they are against such a practice. Lawmakers didn't authorize the state Game and Fish Department to regulate the practice during the first half of the session.
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Regarding the banning of smoking in all public places, including bars and truck stops, 58.56 percent of 111 respondents favor such legislation. Lawmakers defeated legislation to that effect during the first half of the session.
Lawmakers also rejected a bill to require retailers to refund balances of $5 or less on gift cards, despite 95.95 percent of 74 poll respondents saying retailers should make such refunds.
We continue to use the polling option on our main Web page to obtain your thoughts regarding what is taking place in Bismarck. We've shared this fact with the lawmakers from our region, and have encouraged them to look at the poll to help gauge what their constituents are thinking.
To help make you aware of the question being asked on our Web page, we today begin a new feature on this printed page. We will post the question that is being asked on our Web page daily, so you may go there and cast your vote.
We also do not delete past poll questions, so you may cast a vote on any previous poll that is of interest to you. You also can see the results of any poll question without casting a vote, but we encourage you to express your thoughts to help make the polling more valid.
Meanwhile, it appears our state lawmakers have some work to do before they will return to the good graces of the people. Here's hoping their votes and your thoughts are more in line during the second half of this legislative session.
