People need to look no further than the first Illinois Voter Worry Index poll to find where Illinoisian’s priorities rest.

But the poll offers a surprise. Slightly more than half of the respondants are worried about education and—somewhat surprisingly—are willing to pump in more tax dollars to improve it.

The poll, conducted by the Coalition for Consumer Rights, asked 800 people to rank a list of problems on a one to 10 scale. One indicated the issue was “never worried about at all” and 10 meant it was “worried about all of the time.”

Education received a a rating of 6.24 to top the scale.

“What’s more, Illinois voters seem surprisingly ready to pay for solutions through higher taxes,” said Robert Hudek, the coalition’s executive director.

That statement is tantalizing enough to obscure the entire poll. In times where budget crises are never-ending, here is information saying people are ready to turn things around.

More importantly on the home front, the poll serves as ammunition against legislators who refuse to keep higher education budgets in pace with inflation.

Raising tuition is the result. But this poll chips away at the reasoning the citizens won’t pay more for their own future.

As with any poll, this one could be way off-base. But the fact remains that another stone the government hides behind to rationalize why education is underfunded has been blown away.