Josh Feit at PubliCola points out a poll from EMC Research that asked likely Seattle voters about affordable housing policy. Apparently they were asked whether they would support a candidate who supports either (a) “strict rent control, capping costs to protect affordability” or (b) “a variety of policies for affordable housing, including developer fees, increasing affordable housing supply, and other policies.” 15 percent chose the rent control option and 78 percent chose the variety of policies.

As Feit notes, rent control could be one of those “other policies,” so this hardly means that only 15 percent of Seattle voters want some form of rent control. Still, there doesn’t appear to a groundswell of support for overturning the state ban.

More from Feit:

The poll also found, somewhat surprisingly, that housing affordability is dwarfed by transportation issues when it comes to top voter concerns. In an open-ended question asking voters to name “the most important problem facing the city today that the city needs to address,” transportation topped the list at 40 percent. Housing came in second at 17 percent.

EMC’s summary points out: “Only 2 percent of likely voters mention rent control.”

I don’t find that surprising at all. Transportation is a major issue for our state — especially in the Seattle area. Unfortunately a new transportation package has been put on the back burner as negotiations continue on the operating budget. (For more on the budget situation, see here.)