What Issues Are Important to Newtown Voters This Election Year?

This year, two Newtown Board of Supervisor (BOS) seats are up for election: One six-year seat currently occupied by Republican Kyle Davis and one two-year seat currently occupied by Democrat David Oxley.

What are the issues that will shape the campaign to fill these seats?

Mr. Davis and newcomer Andrea Ahern already have announced their campaign and have come out against overdevelopment and tax increases (read “Kyle Davis, Andrea Ahern Announce Campaign for Newtown Township Board of Supervisors & Make Their Opposition to the Arcadia Settlement a Major Issue”). Their opposition is likely to be Democrats David Oxley and another newcomer Elen Snyder. They are listed on the primary ballot but have not yet announced their candidacy.

Residents Speak Out on the Issues

For more than 4 years now, I have been hosting my “Issues of Importance to Newtown Township Residents” survey. A lot has happened during that time and no doubt some issues have become more important this past year. And those issues will likely influence who wins the coveted BOS seats.

Before I get to those specific issues, let’s look at the overall survey results. As of April 1, 2021, 356 responses have been collected. See the figure below for a summary of the results.

What About Lately? Has there been a shift in what’s considered “Very Important” from 2017 through 2020? I think so, as shown in the following chart.

I notice a few interesting trends:

• Keeping taxes low has shot up in importance in 2020, which is not surprising, since the township has raised real estate taxes by 89% in 2020 (read “Final 2021 Newtown Township Budget Approved!”);
• More respondents say that the preservation of open space and curbing overdevelopment is “Very Important.” Again, not surprising (read “Another Proposed Project on Newtown Bypass” and “Newtown Residents Lash Out Against Arcadia Settlement”);
• Bringing new business to the township, however, took a nose dive in terms of importance despite – or because of – the push by the newly-formed Economic Development Committee to change the zoning in certain districts to allow and entice new businesses to locate in Newtown (download “EDC Memo to BOS Re-Zoning for Businesses”).

Some Comments

Comments about these issues submitted by respondents during this period include the following. To see comments about other issues, read “Newtown Speaks Out on the Issues”.

What Do You Think?

The 2020 data is based on only 20 responses vs. 115 for 2019 and 204 for 2017. What is needed are more responses and considering that this is an election year, I hope I can get at least 100 more responses before Election Day on November 2, 2021.

After taking the survey, you can see a summary of the results to date (no personally-identifiable information included).

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP APPROVED SURVEY. IT IS SOLELY A SURVEY POSTED BY JOHN MACK ACTING AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN. YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS - YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IS NEVER REVEALED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.