A majority of Connecticut residents oppose Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to put tolls on the state’s major highways using electronic tolling, according to a new poll from Sacred Heart University.

However, if the money is directed into the state’s “transportation lockbox” so legislators would not be able to use it for anything other than transportation, that figure jumped significantly.

Connecticut residents opposed “implementing electronic tolling on major highways in the State” by a 24.3 percentage point margin and opposed “implementing a sales tax on groceries and medications” by a 80.3 percentage point margin, the SHU poll found. On the topic of electronic tolling a 54.5 percent of Connecticut residents reported they would attempt to travel on toll roads less should “e-tolling” be implemented on major highways in the state. In addition, while 39.8 percent of residents believe the expected revenue of $1 billion would be worth a $100 million investment by the State to implement e-tolling, 38.5 percent did not believe “e-tolling” was worth such an investment.

At the same time, 36.2 percent of residents were more likely to support the tolling initiative if the state guaranteed that funds would go into the transportation lockbox. Another 15.1 percent remained likely to support regardless of funds going into the state’s lockbox, for a total of 51.3 percent. Seven percent of respondents said they were unsure.

In the poll, 59.3 percent of Connecticut residents surveyed believe their quality of life in the state was either “excellent” (15.5 percent) or “good” (43.8 percent). However, a higher rate of residents (62.2 percent) believe it is “very difficult” (21.4 percent) or “somewhat difficult” (40.8 percent) to maintain their standard of living. Top reasons for this difficulty included “increase/high taxes (overall)” (57.3 percent) and “state tax increase” (56.6 percent).

The poll surveyed 1,004 Connecticut residents over the phone and online, SHU said, and had a 3.01 percent margin of error.

In response to the poll, the Lamont administration released a statement from the governor’s Senior Advisor Colleen Flanagan Johnson.

“The majority of Connecticut residents – over 50 percent – likely support tolling when they learn that the funds generated will be subject to protections, such as the state transportation lockbox, as approved by Connecticut voters, as well as federal law that mandates use on transportation infrastructure only,” Johnson said in the statement. “Today’s poll underscores Connecticut’s need to move forward with a sustainable, reliable and protected revenue source – 40 percent of which will be paid for by people who don’t even live in our state – to make the upgrades and enhancements necessary to support Connecticut’s economic growth. This poll confirms what we already know: Gov.Lamont’s plan has broad support from residents, labor, business, and elected officials, and our state’s residents categorically reject the Republican plan, which calls for more borrowing paid for entirely by Connecticut’s future generations.”