New polling leaves union-backed San Diego sales tax increase still iffy for November ballot

Backers of a possible San Diego sales tax increase say they will use new polling that tested a half-cent hike instead of a full-cent hike to decide in coming days whether to target the November ballot.

The local construction union proposing the ballot measure says it could have a better shot at passing than a failed 2024 measure because it would restrict uses of the additional revenue mostly to infrastructure projects.

Polling in October and November showed a measure focused only on infrastructure would do better than the 2024 measure, which would have allowed city officials to spend the money on almost anything.

Despite solid support, the union — Local 89 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America — decided to conduct a new poll to see how shrinking the size of the increase in half would affect support among city voters.

The new polling, conducted last weekend, also narrowed the possible uses of the money to certain kinds of infrastructure: projects focused on water, sewer, stormwater, roads, firefighting, law enforcement and Balboa Park.

Kelvin Barrios, Local 89’s policy and community engagement director, said Thursday that officials from multiple labor unions will meet in coming days to discuss results of the poll and how to move forward.

If they don’t target the Nove...