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They’re the twin demons plaguing Bay Area residents: the never-ending grind of bumper-to-bumper traffic and the ever-climbing cost of housing.

But in a recent poll, voters said that when it comes to tackling those most vexing issues, they are far more willing to open their wallets to fix traffic problems than they are to support a wide-ranging plan to bring down high housing costs.

In the poll, carried out for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and this news organization, 83 percent of respondents cited the cost of housing as an “extremely” or “very serious” issue, compared to 76 percent of voters who said the same of traffic congestion.

But 71 percent of respondents said they would support a one-cent sales tax to combat traffic problems by expanding transit lines, upgrading roadways and other measures — above the 2/3 margin needed to pass such a tax — compared to 43 percent who said they’d support a multi-faceted plan to address high home prices and rents.

The poll, conducted by the marketing research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz (FM3) and Associates, surveyed 1,913 likely voters in the nine Bay Area counties from Feb. 14 to 24. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Some experts said it was likely the results reflected voters’ response to the specific proposal outlined in the poll, rather than a general unwillingness to support solutions to bring down high housing costs.

The poll asked about an omnibus measure, called the CASA Compact, that’s meant to make it easier to build more housing through zoning changes and tax-backed affordable housing funds, and to help existing renters stay in their homes by capping what they pay. It is unlikely voters would be asked to approve the entire plan — only tax hikes must go before voters — but it is possible they could see pieces of it on local ballots in years to come.

JR Starrett, the advocacy and community engagement director for the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, said that Bay Area voters have demonstrated their support for bonds and other taxes for affordable housing in recent years, approving 14 out of 17 ballot measures in the region since 2015.

“The results of the poll,” he said, “are not in line with the results we’ve seen at the ballot box time and time again.”

But it was hard to refute the enthusiasm the poll’s respondents demonstrated for fixes aimed at reducing traffic problems.

There’s a lot more consensus around what to do about maintaining and improving the region’s roadways and transit arteries, said Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

In addition to the bulk of respondents who said they would support a 1-cent sales tax for traffic and transit improvements, 64 percent of respondents said they would back the same projects if they were financed through a $50 billion bond measure and a 0.4 percent gross receipts tax on businesses in the Bay Area.

Support for the measure was consistently high in Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, but varied depending on the type of funding scheme in Contra Costa, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties. Contra Costa County voters, for example, were much more likely to support the sales tax and less likely to support the tax on regional businesses.

“We’re heartened that 71 percent of us are willing to reach into our pockets to address this through a 1-cent sales tax,” said Guardino, whose group has led the campaigns for a series of transportation taxes. “That is quite a statement and a commitment by Bay Area voters.”

Those transit expansions can’t come soon enough for Myrna Walton, a long-time Berkeley hills resident who recently moved to Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood to be closer to BART. At 77, she can no longer drive at night, a relatively recent development that had her feeling trapped in her home. But being able to walk 10 or 15 minutes to the BART station has been liberating, she said.

“I have a sense of freedom I didn’t have before,” Walton said. “I was afraid of becoming a dangerous driver, but I had no alternatives.”

Still, she says, she’d like to get rid of her car completely, but relying on Uber and Lyft to get to places that are hard to reach by transit can be expensive. The East Bay is too spread out, she said, and there’s only so many places within walking distance of BART.

Even for those who can choose to drive, traffic congestion has reached untenable levels, said Oakland resident Sam Jackson. The time people spend slogging along at speeds of 35 mph or slower has increased 80 percent from 2010 to 2017, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

“It’s a complete waste of time,” Jackson said. “Even if you have a really nice car, and you’re the type of person who likes to drive, you’re still only going 10 miles an hour over the Bay Bridge.”

Support for transportation investment is consistent with at least a 40-year history in the region, said Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a regional think tank.

But, the results are even more impressive given voters last year approved a $3 toll increase over six years, the first dollar of which went into effect this year, said David Metz, of FM3 and Associates, which conducted the poll.

“And they’re still hungering for investment,” he said. “It’s a testament to the level of frustration people feel.”

When it comes to housing, however, the solutions are a lot more polarizing, and respondents were split on the best strategies to address the issue.

The CASA Compact calls for removing bureaucratic red tape around permitting and zoning restrictions, imposing a regional rent cap and tighter rules to protect tenants from evictions, and added taxes on employers, property owners and a sales-tax to generate $1.5 billion to help build housing at all income levels.

Alexander Boyovich, a Concord resident, is keenly aware the traffic problem is rooted in the fact there aren’t enough homes near job centers, but said he couldn’t support any proposal with a regional rent cap. He wanted to see only market-based solutions to make it easier for developers to build homes, instead.

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“On one hand, there are things in there that are helpful, if all we’re doing is loosening supply constraints,” he said. “But on the other side of the fence, you’re tightening the supply constraints. So, it’s like you’re shooting yourself in the foot.”

Renters were far more likely than homeowners — 62 percent compared with 32 percent — to support the measure, as were respondents under the age of 40, with 56 percent of the voters polled voicing their approval, compared with 39 percent of respondents 40 to 59, and 35 percent of those 60 and above.

Income played a role, as well. Of the voters making less than $60,000 annually, 57 percent said they would support the plan, along with 53 percent of earners making between $60,000 and $120,000, as opposed to just 39 percent of those making $120,000 or more.

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That should come as no surprise, with the people who are least secure in their housing situations feeling the most pressure, said Ellen Wu, the executive director of Urban Habitat, a housing and transportation advocacy agency. She sat on the committee to draft the CASA Compact, but didn’t sign the agreement because her organization feels it doesn’t do enough to ensure existing residents won’t be displaced by new development.

By design, she said, the 10-point CASA plan has a little something in it for everyone to love — and to hate.

“That was kind of the whole point, that there would be compromises and trade-offs,” Wu said, adding that she wasn’t surprised voters gave it a lukewarm reception. “It looks like it did its job.”