Although it’s technically illegal for public employees to strike in Massachusetts, we’ve seen a number of teachers’ strikes over the past year. Communities like Brookline, Malden, Haverhill and Woburn have seen educators walk out of the classroom to try to secure higher salaries and better working conditions.

We were wondering how voters in Massachusetts viewed this activity, so we asked the following question:

Do you support or oppose allowing public school teachers to go on strike to fight for higher wages and improved working conditions?

Despite the fact that a new $15 minimum wage just kicked into effect on January 1, voters in Massachusetts clearly support raising it even further – to $20 an hour.

Voters across the state favor that increase by a margin of 59% to 33%, lending momentum to a campaign by the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition to push lawmakers towards legislation laying out four annual minimum wage hikes that would bring the standard rate to $20 by 2027.

Do you support or oppose raising the minimum wage in MA to $20 an hour?

In our first in a series of polls tracking the favorability of the top elected leaders in the Commonwealth, something strange happened. The two politicians with the highest net favorability in our survey aren’t actually politicians – anymore.

Charlie Baker, who left to run the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), remains the most popular politician in Massachusetts with a net +28 favorability rating (55% favorable – 27% unfavorable).

And soon-to-be former Labor Secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who is leaving the Biden Administration to run the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), comes in second at +16 net favorability (42% - 26%)

One other interesting and important point: while Senator Elizabeth Warren’s +6 net favorability lands her in the middle of the pack, she leads all the officials we tracked with a 30% “very favorable” rating. The strength of her support is impressive and has been one of the secrets to her electoral success.

Somewhat lost in dueling media stories, Boston City Council debates and a paid advertising campaign by the real estate industry was how real voters feel about rent control.

So we decided to ask them – and the answer came back very clearly:

Voters statewide, by a wide majority, support rent control. (65% vs. 25%).

We tested this issue two ways: (1) a straight rent control referendum on the 2024 ballot, and (2) a question about some of the specifics from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent stabilization proposal.

As you can see, both are very popular:

If there were a question on the 2024 general election ballot that would give cities and towns the ability to institute rent control, how would you vote?