According to an Emerson College poll funded by the political action group ACK•Now, 70 percent of Nantucket residents support at least some restrictions on short-term rentals, while only 25 percent say there should be no restrictions.

There is a significant gap in support for short-term rental (STR) restrictions by income level: 90 percent of islanders earning less than $75,000 support restrictions, compared to just 53 percent of islanders earning over $150,000. The survey also found that just under two-thirds of residents believe STRs place a strain on Nantucket’s infrastructure, environment and public services.

Representatives of ACK•Now, which has led the opposition to STRs for years, have tried to portray the results as suggesting that the majority of Nantucket voters oppose the compromise STR ordinance passed by a Select Board subcommittee last month because the ordinance allows STRs islandwide.

“The results of this survey show that an overwhelming majority of people want to restrict STRs because of their impact on the housing crisis, infrastructure, the environment and public services,” said Carl Jelleme, CEO of ACK•Now. “So I hope these results will help convince more people to defeat this fifth attempt to commercialize STRs at the extraordinary town meeting.”

But the poll did not ask voters to comment on the compromise. The compromise bylaw also does not propose leaving STRs unrestricted. If passed, it would limit STR operators from leasing buildings on a single lot and would prohibit STRs in tertiary housing, affordable housing, workforce housing and covenant housing. It would also limit STR operators to eight occupancy changes in the months of July and August. New STR operators would be limited to three occupancy changes in July and August for five years, after which they would be allowed eight. While it will be difficult to achieve a two-thirds majority for an STR-related bylaw, the Emerson College poll does not offer insight into public perceptions of the article voters will face this fall because it only asks whether voters support any restrictions on STRs, not what those restrictions should look like.

“As part of the STR working group and supporters of the goals of the STR subcommittee, we supported common-sense provisions for STRs in proposed articles for citizens and cities, but voters passed only minimal restrictions,” said Kathy Baird, president of the pro-STR political action group Nantucket Together. “None of the articles proposed by ACK-Now passed.”

Proponents of short-term rentals also expressed concerns about the neutrality and wording of the survey questions.

“The questions all use the same gaslighting phrases that ACK Now has fed everyone, and those phrases are never defined or backed up with statistics or facts,” said Kathy Baird, president of Nantucket Together. “The poll is not designed to provide useful information, but rather to influence voters with misleading and undefined terminology and questionable conclusions.”

Emerson College also polled the Select Board’s popularity, providing a rare quantitative look into how voters perceive the island’s most important elected body. Only 23 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of the Select Board, while 51 percent had an unfavorable opinion and a full 26 percent were neutral or unsure. ACK•Now’s own popularity rating was positive, with 34 percent of respondents expressing a favorable opinion of the organization and only 20 percent rating it unfavorably.

The poll’s credibility, as measured by its margin of error, is 6.1 percent. This means that all numbers should be interpreted as estimates of actual numbers, which are likely to be within about 6 percent of the poll’s results. Subsamples, such as the data showing support for restrictions by income level, have a much higher margin of error.