A new Elway Poll shows that a majority of Seattle voters want to weigh in on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement, but that there's no consensus around which alternative voters support. Just 21 percent said they'd support the surface option backed by Protect Seattle Now, supporters of an anti-tunnel ballot proposal. In contrast, 38 percent said they'd support a rebuilt viaduct, and 35 percent said they supported the tunnel.

Interestingly, more respondents---40 percent---said the city should just "let the agreement stand and build the tunnel" than said they would vote for the tunnel if it was on the ballot.

Among those who favored putting the tunnel agreements on the ballot, 57% would vote for a new viaduct; 30% would vote for surface streets; 9 percent would vote for a new tunnel; and 5 percent were undecided.

Those who were most likely to say they wanted a vote on the tunnel were also the least likely to vote. Sixty-eight percent of voters polled who had only voted in one of the last four elections favored a vote, whereas just 50 percent of those who voted in all four recent elections wanted a tunnel vote.

Demographically, women (44 percent), young people between 18 and 35 (42 percent), Republicans (55 percent) and people living in West (50 percent), Southeast (51 percent) and Northwest (48 percent) Seattle were most likely to support replacing the viaduct. Surface/transit broke 25 percent among people making less than $25,000 a year (31 percent), people making between $25,000 and $50,000 (26 percent), and people living in Capitol Hill, the U District, and surrounding neighborhoods (27 percent). And the tunnel was most popular among men (43 percent), and people living in downtown, Queen Anne, or Magnolia (54 percent).

Joni Balter editorializes in the Seattle Times this morning about the poll, calling the tunnel "the practical solution."