"Maybe it will take some kind of big scandal here. But why wait for that? We can do this here. You know, I've never heard a good rationale for not banning gifts from lobbyists. Some local Utah governments have banned such gifts. What's the big deal? Maybe no vote is ever changed by such a gift. But it is clear from public opinion polls that citizens perceive a problem — these bills make substantive changes to how we operate" in the Legislature.

In the newspaper's and TV station's pre-legislative poll by Jones, a large majority of Utahns clearly want to tighten the current gift-taking rules.

Jones found that half of all Utahns want lobbyists' gifts to legislators banned outright. Another 25 percent say legislators should only accept small items from lobbyists, like a pen or soft drink.

Added together, three-fourths of citizens think the current practice of just listing the names of lawmakers who take a gift of $50 or more in a single day is not sufficient.

Jones found that another 17 percent think the current gift law is adequate, while a few Utahns think lobbyists shouldn't have to report any gifts given to legislators.

It helps to be liked

But while most Utahns favor government reform, they also give both Huntsman and legislators fine job approval ratings, the Jones poll shows. And so opponents of reform can argue there's no big political hit by killing the measures, even while the surveys show that Utahns think that lobbyists have too much sway with legislators.

In addition, the survey shows that few Utahns even try to communicate with their legislators during the session, making it hard for lawmakers to know what their constituents want and easier for lobbyists to win the day on specific issues or bills.

Huntsman, with a 85 percent approval rating, is near his all-time high job performance of 88 percent measured last July, Jones found in his new survey.

The Utah Legislature is at its best rating of the new century — Jones found that 64 percent of Utahns either strongly or somewhat approve of the job the lawmakers are doing.

Both are very high ratings for their particular entities — a sitting executive and an amorphous legislative body.

It makes sense that both the governor and Legislature would be riding high now.

Lawmakers and Huntsman cut both the unpopular sales tax on food and trimmed personal income taxes in 2006.

In addition, Huntsman and first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman adopted a baby from India in December. Their trip to bring the baby home attracted plenty of positive media coverage that no doubt helped boost his job approval rating.

Other findings in the new poll pertaining to legislators' actions include: