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The University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB Poll released a series of results this week based on a statewide poll of 700 Massachusetts residents conducted Oct. 3-10.

Included among the poll’s findings:

• Massachusetts residents support four of the five ballot questions facing voters on Election Day, including giving the state auditor the authority to audit the Massachusetts State Legislature (63%), eliminating the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests as a requirement for high school graduation (53%), allowing unionization for transportation network drivers (58%) and increasing the minimum wage for tipped workers (61%). The poll’s respondents were evenly split (43-43) on legalizing natural psychedelic substances for growth, possession and use by people over age 21.
  
  
• By an overwhelming margin of 76% to 4%, the survey shows Massachusetts residents support the use of ballot questions to pass constitutional amendments and make state laws – a power granted to voters since 1919.
  
  
• 75% of respondents are concerned about the possibility of violence in the U.S. associated with the 2024 presidential election.
  
  
• The highest percentage of respondents in over four years now say that Massachusetts is on the “wrong track.” For the first time, more than 4 in 10 Massachusetts residents – 41% – say the Bay State is heading in the wrong direction, a five-point increase in negative sentiment since a May UMass Amherst/WCVB Poll and 13 points higher than a poll from August 2020, when the state locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• Less than a majority of residents (47%) view the state economy as good or excellent, the lowest level since October 2022.
  
  
• Majorities support a full slate of options to bring the price of housing under control, including limiting increases on rents (67%), lowering the income threshold to qualify for affordable housing (61%), allowing towns to tax real estate transactions above $1 million to generate funds for affordable housing (62%), providing tax breaks to developers to build more low-income housing (62%) and requiring towns served by the MBTA to change zoning to allow for new multifamily housing (53%).
  
  
• Top statewide officials continue to hold relatively high approval ratings, with Gov. Healey at 58% approval, followed closely by Sen. Ed Markey (54%) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (53%). Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris shares a similarly high 55% approval rating in the Bay State.
  
  
• Strong majorities of residents are in favor of making Election Day a state holiday (72%), offering same-day registration (64%) and allowing same-day registration during the early voting period (63%).
  
  
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of Massachusetts residents would like to see an independent commission established to redraw state and congressional districts.
  
  
• Healey remains the heavy favorite for reelection as governor, as well as the next in line to the U.S. Senate should either Warren or Markey retire.

For full details of the poll’s results, check out the stories below.