Why Michigan could be Mitt Romney’s make-or−break moment – The Christian Science Monitor

Romney’s the favorite to win the March 6 Massachusetts primary, too. Santorum’s emphasis on social issues isn’t a good fit for the Bay State.

But here’s the kicker: All major party candidates back to 1972 also won their home states in the general election, with two exceptions. Al Gore lost Tennessee to George W. Bush in 2000, and George McGovern lost South Dakota to Richard Nixon in 1972. Both Vice President Gore and Mr. McGovern lost their White House bids, of course. Neither is someone Romney would like to be linked with.

Yet Massachusetts leans blue, despite current GOP Senator Scott Brown, and right now Romney is far behind President Obama there. A recent WBUR/MassINC survey has Obama over Romney in Massachusetts by a whopping 21 percent.

Blunt words for Brown – Boston Globe

During his short career in the Senate, Brown has avoided going out on limbs, refusing to take a position at all on some issues and siding with Democrats on enough of the others to avoid alienating the state’s moderate electorate. That strategy has paid off: In a recent WBUR poll, 48 percent of respondents said Brown has compromised “about the right amount’’ in Washington. A September poll found that, while voters believed that the GOP as a whole was too conservative, they saw Brown as “about right.’’

But Brown is definitely on a high outer branch now. Adding to the peril: He really needs women voters to win this election. In 2010, he beat Martha Coakley by narrowing the gender gap to just three points. Right now, Democrat Elizabeth Warren outpolls him among women, 48 percent to 41 percent, according to the WBUR poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group.

WBUR Poll: Most Mass. Residents Support State Health Care Law – WBUR

Across the national airwaves and on the Republican campaign trail, the Massachusetts coverage law that many now call “Romneycare” is routinely trashed…So you might think this drubbing would rub off on Massachusetts residents, about two-thirds of whom have consistently endorsed the state’s coverage plan since it passed in 2006. Not so. In the latest WBUR poll, 62 percent support the law and 33 percent oppose it.

“Even with all the attention the Massachusetts law has gotten nationally, it really hasn’t driven down support among voters here in Massachusetts,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the poll.

WBUR Poll: Brown, Warren Running Neck And Neck In Senate Race – WBUR

A new WBUR poll shows U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren running neck and neck. Forty-six percent of people polled said they would vote for Warren compared to 43 percent for Brown. The three-point lead is within the margin of error…Pollster Steve Koczela said of Warren, “She’s gotten her name out there. Now many more people have a view of her and she’s translated that into higher support than she had before.”

Koczela leads the polling group at the independent think-tank MassINC. He conducted the poll for WBUR.

“[Warren] really came out of the gate fast and there was some question as to whether or not she was going to be able to maintain the momentum that she started out with,” he said. “And what this poll has shown is that she has been able to maintain that momentum.”

However, about a third of voters polled don’t know who she is or don’t have an opinion of her. And Brown is popular. Fifty percent of the voters polled think favorably of him, compared to 39 percent* who say the same about Warren.

At a time when the middle class feels under siege, much of this Senate race has been about who is more “middle class.” And, according to Koczela, Brown is winning that competition.

“He has managed to put a little bit of daylight between himself and his opponent as far who is actually from the middle class,” Koczela said.

Short-term MBTA solution developing – WWLP News

Momentum appears to be building in House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s circle of deputies for a short-term solution to an MBTA budget bind that threatens to crush commuters with 40 percent fare hikes and crippling service cuts. On Tuesday afternoon, a newly promoted member of DeLeo’s leadership team, Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston), said the Legislature must act.

Rushing’s comments came immediately after an hour-long meeting between members of the Legislature’s MBTA caucus and RTA caucus, featuring remarks from three advocates for new revenue streams to support the state transportation system. At the meeting, officials from MassPIRG, MassINC, and A Better City pleaded with lawmakers to settle on a financing package that would help narrow a $1-billion-per-year gap between transportation system maintenance needs and actual spending. Reforms, they argued, had been exhausted and would only solve a sliver of state’s transportation funding problems.

The advocates laid out an array of options: a payroll tax dedicated to transportation that would be shouldered largely in the urban, employment centers that rely on transportation, an open-road tolling system to assess drivers based on the number of miles they travel, an increase in the state gas tax, rededicating funds for underground storage tanks, electronic fare collection on commuter rail trains and in MBTA parking lots, and a plan for incremental, regular fare increases for T riders.

By the numbers – New England Cable News
A new poll tells the story of a tight re-election fight for Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.

Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group. MassINC, in partnership with public radio station WBUR, just polled the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren contest.

Koczela also weighed in on national polls between GOP presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, and talks about a poll comparing whether Massachusetts voters would cast their ballot in favor of either Romney or President Barack Obama.

Smaller Mass. cities seek non-profit to bolster schools – Boston Globe

Brockton’s predicament sheds light on the challenges small Massachusetts cities face in establishing partnerships with educational nonprofits or philanthropists. Such ties can play a critical role in overhauling ailing schools, providing for tutoring, teacher training, technology upgrades, afterschool activities, dental care services, and a host of other initiatives.

Many major nonprofits consider large cities as having the greatest need – and a big name that can impress donors. But increasingly in Massachusetts, it appears the cities outside Boston could benefit from additional help in overhauling their schools. Nearly three-quarters of the 40 schools the state has declared underperforming since 2010 are in the outlying cities.

In a historic move, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education fully seized control of the long-troubled Lawrence school system in November, and state education leaders have expressed grave concerns about the quality of schools in at least three other cities, Fall River, Holyoke, and New Bedford.

Overwhelmingly, students who are struggling to overcome low achievement in Massachusetts are largely concentrated in 24 smaller cities, from Revere to Pittsfield. Collectively, these cities educate nearly 230,000 students – more than four times the number enrolled in Boston – and two-thirds of them live in low-income households.

The Advantage of the Unknown – Worcester Mag

Lt. Governor Tim Murray may have received the best news he’s heard since his November car accident that fed the rumor mill a feast: a MassINC poll commissioned by Commonwealth Magazine found that 52 percent of 500 people over the age of 18 surveyed knew little or nothing about the crash. Despite 57 percent of those polled believing the LG is hiding information, he still carries a 27 percent favorability rating – while 56 percent said they didn’t know if they saw him favorably or unfavorably. As the magazine put it “he remains largely a blank slate for many voters,” which, with the election for governor over two years away, sounds more like good news than bad.

MBTA faces highest deficit of any transit authority in the country – Fox 25 News

“It’s hard to wrap our heads around it,” stated Ben Forman, the research director at Mass Inc.- an independent think tank. He says the MBTA continues to borrow just to make ends meet. It’s like someone opening a new credit card, only to make the minimum payment on an existing one. “The T has two problems. One is that it can’t pay for it’s normal cost every year, and the other is that it hasn’t done the maintenance it needs,” Forman says.

Lawmakers seeking input from experts who’ve pushed trans revenues – Boston Herald

Lawmakers whose communities are served by the cash-strapped MBTA have scheduled a meeting this month with three advocates for new transportation revenue, a signal of deepening concern about the impact of proposed fare hikes and service cuts on Beacon Hill…

MassINC research director Ben Forman plans to present a report that recommends “regional financing” for transportation services, in part by assigning a portion of payroll taxes to transportation funding and by taxing motorists based on their miles traveled. Both taxes could be adjusted regionally, depending on local transportation needs.

Mass. Consumer Sentiment Soared In January – Worcester Business Journal

Consumer sentiment in Massachusetts soared more than 30 percent in January in a quarterly poll of economic conditions conducted by The MassINC Polling Group. The group’s Index of Consumer Sentiment rose from 59.6 in November to 78.4 on a 100-point scale. The index is a telephone-based survey that measures responses to five questions about current and future economic conditions in the Bay State. The survey, of 500 Massachusetts residents, was conducted from Jan. 25 through 29. “More residents are starting to see their economic future as something to look forward to, rather than something to dread,” said Steve Koczela, president of MassINC. “There is still a ways to go, but the numbers this quarter show a substantial improvement.” In the January poll, 40 percent said they expected good economic times for the country as a whole, compared to 45 percent who see bad times ahead, nearly identical to perceptions of near-term business conditions. While these ratios are still tilted slightly negative, they represent a major improvement from the 22 percent who anticipated good times when asked the same two questions in October, MassINC said.

Time to take gaming seriously – Cape Cod Times

With more than 75 video game developers in the state, employing about 1,300 workers, and with college rating services such as The Princeton Review listing schools such as Becker College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute as offering among the best video game design programs in the country…the commonwealth is poised to be a major player.

And we’re not talking about chump change either. As Commonwealth magazine reports, domestic video game sales totaled $15 billion in 2010 — $5 billion more than domestic box office revenue.

Massachusetts’ Consumer Confidence Shows Improvement – New England Public Radio

A Boston-based polling center says consumer confidence in Massachusetts is on the rise, a sign the economy may soon see more spending.

Public transit should be funded by regions that benefit – Patriot Ledger

In a recent report, the independent, nonpartisan think tank MassINC mapped out a strategy to support smart transportation spending based on what our economic competitors are doing successfully in other states – paying for transportation regionally with measures approved by voters at the ballot box.

Taxpayers living in the Berkshires, Springfield and the South Coast aren’t riding the T. They aren’t willing to pay for it, and they shouldn’t. Taking a regional approach to transportation could break the counterproductive East-West political impasse that leads to underinvestment both within Greater Boston and beyond Interstate 495.

Legal community looks to lend a hand to Gateway Cities – South Coast Today

The Massachusetts Bar Association held a forum at UMass School of Law to identify ways the legal community can help old industrial cities outside Boston that struggle with high rates of unemployment and other social problems.

Panelists described Gateway Cities’ predicament and existing revitalization efforts.

Benjamin Forman, researcher director at MassINC, a think tank that first identified the cities, gave a background presentation, noting the difficulties — a tendency to focus on Boston over other cities — and the opportunities in the smaller cities — existing infrastructure and under-utilized labor force.

Gov. Deval Patrick insists public will support tax on soda, candy – Boston Herald

Patrick said Bay State residents don’t mind paying more for chocolate bars and cola or shelling out deposits for bottles of water and Gatorade — just as they do for carbonated drinks…

Patrick…cited a MassINC poll claiming 77 percent of the public supports an expansion of the bottle bill.

OUR VIEW: Time to shed some light on Mass. Historical Commission – The Herald News

According to a just-released CommonWealth magazine article, excerpted in The Herald News, MHC has a history of blocking projects in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner.

The Boston Globe

“You’re talking about people in the same state, but it looks like different worlds to me,’’ said Andrew Sum, director of Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies and author of “Recapturing the American Dream,’’ an analysis of the Massachusetts economy over the past three decades. “This is not the way our state used to be – back in 1979, we were among the national leaders in income equality. Now, we’re a national leader in inequality.’’

The MetroWest Daily News

“Whoa. It’s you. What happened? A lot of people have been asking about you, you know.’’

“So I’ve heard,’’ said the American Dream.

“It’s been what, 10 years, give or take?’’

“That’s what the latest MassINC report says.’’

“They’re calling 2000-10 the Lost Decade. Lost jobs, lost income, lost hope of ever catching up with you again. But here you are.’’

Fall River Herald News

This week, MassINC released a status report on the state of the American Dream in Massachusetts. To no one’s surprise, the new data on where we stand after 10 years of no growth, income polarization and negative labor market shifts show the dream diminished for many of our residents; one in three, the report states, now fear they will fall out of the middle class.

WGBH

The MassINC report, released on Dec. 14, focuses on the last 10 years, which it calls a “lost decade.”

That report also found rising income inequality, coupled with growing underemployment. That, MassINC research director Ben Forman told WGBH News’ Jordan Weinstein, is of particular concern.

The MetroWest Daily News
One study calls 2000 to 2010 a “lost decade” for the Bay State, according to non-partisan think tank MassINC and Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies.

The state’s problems began well before the recent recession, said Benjamin Forman, MassINC research director and one of the report’s authors.

Daily Hampshire Gazette

One third of Massachusetts residents who identify themselves as middle class fear falling into the ranks of the poor, according to a MassInc study released recently that also showed Massachusetts’ middle class is doing comparatively well compared with the rest of the country. MassInc also known as the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, created the first-of-its-kind Middle Class Index as a means of tracking how most Americans are doing at achieving the traditional elements of the American Dream, said Benjamin K. Forman, MassInc research director. MassInc is a nonprofit, independent think tank based in Boston.

“My view would be it doesn’t look great,” Forman said to sum up. “It’s interesting. People made gains in a lot of things we associated with the American Dream and being solidly middle class. More people bought homes over the past 10 years. More people finished college. But they are hanging on to those things by an increasingly thinner thread.”

Springfield Republican

A house is so much more than four strong walls and a roof. So often, it’s what’s inside that counts. So it is with the vision of cities being cultivated by think tank MassINC which has been working since 2007 with 11 older industrial cities – including Springfield, Holyoke and New Bedford – to help reinvent themselves to compete in the 21st century. 

But like the homebuilder that looks inside the sturdy walls, MassINC is also looking at the arts to provide the spark that will make revived cities sing.

Newburyport Daily News

And a recent MassINC study found the state’s middle class is faring pretty well, too. In terms of “Achieving the American Dream,” the study found that “many middle-class residents were achieving pillars of the American Dream,” and compared to their peers in the rest of the country, “more … were covered by health insurance, more purchased homes, and more students went on to college and completed degrees.”

Something to celebrate, for sure. But at the same time, MassINC’s survey of consumer sentiment found “difficult financial conditions are taking a toll,” with a third of respondents saying they were in danger of falling out of the middle class, half believing the next generation will be worse off than the previous one and only 18 percent saying they had an optimistic outlook for the future.

The Salem News

And a recent MassINC study found the state’s middle class is faring pretty well, too. In terms of “Achieving the (American) Dream,” the study found that “many middle-class residents were achieving pillars of the American Dream,” and compared to their peers in the rest of the country, “more … were covered by health insurance, more purchased homes, and more students went on to college and completed degrees.”

Something to celebrate, for sure. But at the same time, MassINC’s survey of consumer sentiment found “difficult financial conditions are taking a toll,” with a third of respondents saying they were in danger of falling out of the middle class, half believing the next generation will be worse off than the previous one, and only 18 percent saying they had an optimistic outlook for the future.

The Patriot Ledger
MassINC, the nonpartisan think tank based in Boston, has taken a shot at the last challenge, creating an index to track the vitality of this crucial segment of the economy.

The Middle Class Index includes 26 indicators, including household income, homeownership, health coverage, student debt, length of commute, personal bankruptcies, college completion rate and number of jobs per household.

WGBH

The results from a recent poll taken by the MassINC research group shows overwhelming support for using the arts as a catalyst for economic development in the Bay State’s so-called “Gateway Cities,” such as New Bedford, Lawrence and Brockton.

The survey was given in October to 600 registered voters in the 11 Gateway Cities. Eight in 10 voters said that they supported government funding for arts events and activities. The results were released on Dec. 1.

John Schneider, executive vice president of MassINC, said he was surprised at how favorably voters viewed arts and culture as an economic development activity.

The Patriot Ledger
State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, prompted by extensive reporting by Commonwealth magazine, has asked state Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, along with two key Senate committees, to investigate the deal that led the MBTA to choose Rocla Concrete Tie Inc. for this ill-fated $40 million contract.

Taunton Daily Gazette

MassINC, the nonpartisan think tank based in Boston, has taken a shot at the last challenge, creating an index to track the vitality of the middle class.

The Middle Class Index includes 26 separate indicators, including household income, homeownership, health coverage, student debt, length of commute, personal bankruptcies, college completion rate and number of jobs per household. It breaks the indicators into four subindexes: financial security, working conditions, “achieving the dream,” and equal opportunity. The study’s authors then established 2000 as a baseline year, giving its indicators a benchmark 100 points, then measured 2010 against it in Massachusetts and other states.