61% Say It’s Bad for a State When the Wealthy Go to Another State for Lower Taxes

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Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s flippant remarks on the exodus of the wealthy from Seattle have recently been in the news.

• Sixty-one percent of voters (61%) say it is bad for a state when wealthy individuals leave it to go to another state that has lower taxes.
  • Just 17% disagree and say it’s good for a state, and another 17% say it is neither good nor bad.
  • These totals include 28% who say it’s Very Bad for the state and 5% who say it is Very Good.
  • Majorities of Republicans (64%) and Democrats (61%) say it is bad for the state wealthy individuals leave.
• Despite these findings, deeply ingrained pessimism and misconceptions leave voters split on whether remarks like Wilson’s would make them more or less likely to vote for the candidate who expressed them.
  • A narrow plurality (45%), say it would make them less likely to vote for such a politician, but 42% say it would make them more likely to vote for them.
  • These numbers include 26% who say it would make them Much Less Likely and 25% who say it would make them Much More Likely.
• And, while 42% say they would be more likely to vote for such a candidate, voters overwhelmingly believe businesses should have the right to leave for tax purposes.

This data is from a Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters conducted online by Scott Rasmussen, May 13-14, 2026. RMG Research, Inc., conducted the field work for the survey. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.