Posted on 03/06/2011 1:25:01 PM PST by bigbob
Wisconsinites overwhelmingly want GOP Gov. Scott Walker to compromise, a new poll says.
The poll, commissioned by a conservative-leaning think tank, also found that state residents think Democratic President Barack Obama is doing a better overall job than Walker.
Further, Wisconsinites narrowly disapprove of Senate Democrats' decision to leave the state to block a Senate vote on Walker's budget repair bill, which contains language to strip away most public employee union bargaining rights.
The poll of 603 Wisconsinites was commissioned by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and conducted between Feb. 27 and March 1, the day of Walker’s budget address, and has a margin of error of 4 percent. The survey of randomly selected adults included cell phone-users and was directed by Ken Goldstein, a UW-Madison political science professor on leave who is also the co-founder and director of the Big Ten Battleground Poll.
The poll's release comes amid talks between Walker's office and the Senate Democrats. Walker has hinted recently at compromise but said he won't compromise on the core principles of his bill.
But the poll asked respondents to say which of two statements came closest to their view: ``Governor Walker should stand strong for the plan he has proposed no matter how long the protests go on, or Governor Walker should negotiate with Democrats and public employees' unions in order to find a compromise solution.''
Sixty-five percent of those polled said Walker should compromise while 33 percent said Walker should stand strong. The other 2 percent said they didn't know or refused to answer.
On the job approval questions, Obama scored a 53 percent-42 percent positive job approval score. For Walker, 43 percent of respondents said they strongly approved or somewhat approved of the job he was doing, while 53 percent either somewhat disapproved or strongly disapproved. The strongly disapproved mark was 45 percent.
Poll respondents were more evenly divided on the question of whether they approved of "Senate Democrats' decision to leave the state in order to prevent the passage of the budget repair bill that would reduce public employee benefits and change collective bargaining rights." Of those answering, 51 percent disapproved and 47 percent approved; 42 percent strongly disapproved.
Asked what they think the top priority of the governor and the Legislature should be, 27 percent said balancing the budget, 1 percent higher than said improving the state’s economy and protecting jobs. In the November 2010 WPRI poll, 49 percent of the respondents said that state government’s top priority should be jobs and the economy.
Those polled also gave generally favorable marks to public employees, public employee unions, teachers, teachers' unions and Democrats in the Legislature. They were split on Republicans in the Legislature and generally unfavorable toward Walker and Tea Party members. The respondents were about evenly divided in identifying themselves as Republican, Democrat or independent.
Without reducing collective bargaining to base wages, the Budget Repair bill is nothing more than a paper tiger. It's Obamacare without the individual mandate.
It appears that posters here who were against Walker getter tougher by enforcing law and order inside the capital, so that Walker would win the PR war were wrong.
He won the PR war the first 4 or 5 days. After that, he allowed anarchy, lawlessness and chaos to run unchecked inside the capital building. I suspect, he has lost a good portion of the “law and order” vote. Those who watch and continue to watch his tepid response to the anarchy, lawlessness and chaos that engulfed his capital building.
His Karl Rove approach hasn’t worked. There is nothing wrong with trying to win a “PR” war. Just don’t do it at the expense of law and order.
Good. You either get at the core of the problem, root it out and fix it, or go back to letting it fester until the state goes bankrupt.
Ask the residents of CT how that is going with Malloy in office now. Increased taxes on everything.
More likely Walker and the Republicans simply lost the argument. The fact that people (including yourself) are saying he is "getting rid of collective bargaining" is in and of itself an indicator that Republicans simply failed to get their message out. The bill does not get rid of collective bargaining, it simply restricts it to wages.
I agree with you though, it appears Wisconsin may simply be a bridge too far on this issue. The left has managed to piggyback their protests on the pro Democracy rallies in North Africa and the Middle East and come off as the good guys. Further, getting teachers into the streets is almost always a winner for unions and the left. Women, in particular, are sympathetic to them and virtually always cave in the minute teachers start whining and crying. There is a reason the teachers unions remain so powerful.
It has been pretty clear for awhile now the left/Dems/Labor are winning the PR fight here (despite the fact that so many conservatives couldn't see how this was turning out), and it has snowballed and encouraged the Dem Wisconsin Senators to simply stay away and prolong things - and encouraged similar actions elsewhere (Indiana so far).
Walker and the Republicans really don't have much choice but to stay firm and let this play out. If they concede, Walker is finished. Instead of being perceived as something of a grinch, but at least a winning grinch, losing this fight would result in his being viewed as not only a grinch but a loser. The best the Republicans can do is hold fast and hope public opinion changes. The masses are fickle, and very often the low point for any politician is at the height of a major fight for change. If he wins, he can recover. If he loses, he's done - and the Wisconsin GOP could end up damaged and ineffective for several years. Better to stay strong and go down fighting in this situation. If Walker and Wisconsin GOP Senators are recalled they will be poorly regarded only until the Democrats screw things up (raise taxes) - and then Walker/Republican popularity will rise again and this time everyone will understand what his platform will be.
I was just going to post I would like to know the sample they used.. why do I think it was Union heavy?
What is in the Wisconsin water?
It passed in Ohio...
No one called me!
I support Walker.
No giving in to state union terrorists.
If he does, we are done for.
Do not blink, Gov. Walker!
Statements like this are all but guaranteed to poll well, regardless of the circumstances or the parties involved.
Is there any polling evidence that CT voters would do anything differently?
As far as I am concerned, much of this country, particularly in places like CT, are still entirely wedded to the social welfare state and completely unprepared to do the things that need be done to turn our communities, states and the Federal Government around. Bottom line, people STILL aren't ready to cut much of anything.
Every major poll shows the same thing, people will say generally we need to tackle deficits - but ask them whether they approve cutting pretty much anything and they say no.
It makes me think Mitch Daniels might have known what he was doing, even though it ticked some people off. Here in NJ, Christie took on the unions, but didn’t take on their right to collectively bargain. I think it’s just a matter of knowing what you can accomplish and what is best left alone. Art of war.
“Q 22b:
Do you approve of..
Stripping public employees of their right to collectively bargain over benefits and working conditions as part of a ploy to eliminate public employee unions altogether.”
Gee, nothing biased in that question...
Sounds like Grade “A” bs to me.
It passed in Ohio...
And will be signed into law VERY soon.
Only because the Democrats in the Legislature and Senate CAN'T flee and hold things up.
Had Kasich had to deal with the circus Walker has to put with, we don't know how it might turn out.
Further, as best I can tell, Ohio's legislation doesn't go right to the heart of unions the way Wisconsin's does. The important pieces of Walker's legislation are the parts talked about least (and the stuff unions are most afraid of) - ending state forced union dues collection, giving public workers the right to quit their unions and not pay dues, forcing the unions to re certify each year, etc.
Yup, I agree.
Walker might should have done this on a more piecemeal basis.
Krauthammer even now suggests breaking up some of this bill and passing the non financial parts without the Dem Senators, but Walker and the Wisconsin GOP apparently have their reasons for not wanting to do that.
Either way, the Wisconsin GOP really can't cave now. They will have to find new ways to pass some of this bill, they will need a better PR strategy, etc.
I call bullsh1t on this poll.
Most people don’t want him to compromise. This is a poll trying to masquerade as liberal democrat leverage, because some of the dems are starting to crack.
Three want to go back as of now. If they get to 8 they will.
Seems the momentum was with the GOP, but then without a decisive resolution, it shifted. I guess that’s basic organized labor tactics 101, though, isn’t it? I wonder if the radio talkers will just leave it alone, stop nationalizing it, and move on to sharia law or some other topic. Change the subject.
A “conservative” poll by a professor of the Univ. of Wisconsin? Riiiiiiight.....
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