Posted on 03/07/2011 8:26:42 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing. The polls in Wisconsin have consistently shown that voters want an end to the standoff in Madison over the budget-repair bill, and appear to be blaming Governor Scott Walker for the impasse. Almost two-thirds want Walker to negotiate with the Democrats who fled the state and hijacked the legislative process. On the other hand, Wisconsin voters want lower taxes and spending cuts rather than higher taxes and the current level of spending, too:
In the WPRI survey from mid-November, 45% of Wisconsinites viewed Walker favorably and 35% viewed him unfavorably.
Today, about the same share – 43% – view him favorably, but the share of people who view him unfavorably has jumped 18 points to 53%.
The poll also illustrates how feelings about Walker have intensified among both supporters and opponents. Even though Walker’s overall favorability has gone down slightly from 45% to 43%, the percentage of people who strongly support him – who view him “very favorably” – has gone up from 21% to 28%. The percentage of people who strongly oppose him – who view him “very unfavorably” – has more than doubled from 19% to 41%.
Walker has lost significant ground with independents in the state, as Rasmussen also indicated earlier in the week. A 57% majority disapproves of Walker’s performance, and 59% of independents have a negative view of the governor. However, 23% of independents said that the top priority of the state government should be to balance the budget, another 13% said holding the line on taxes and spending, and another 20% said economic improvement should be the highest priority, with only 5.8% saying negotiating/bargaining was the highest priority and 7.9% for protecting collective bargaining “rights.”
It seems that Wisconsin voters (especially independents) want government to focus on the right priorities, but not disagree too much over them. Walker gets the blame for drawing a line in the sand.
That said, the WPRI analysis shows that voters have not been sold on the budget-repair bill’s union reforms, either:
Walker has proposed limiting collective bargaining to wages. Exactly half of the respondents (50 percent) say that public employees are willing to compromise on pensions and benefits but limiting bargaining rights does nothing to balance the state’s budget situation and is really just an attempt to get rid of public employee unions. Forty-three percent say the proposed changes are a necessary reform because they will give local governments greater flexibility to control their budgets over several years.
There is real opposition to Governor Walker’s proposal to restrict the collective bargaining rights of workers, but the intensity depends on how the question is worded. When the issue is framed as limiting bargaining rights to help local governments, 47 percent are in favor and 50 percent are opposed. When the issue is framed as eliminating bargaining rights to ultimately dismantle public employee unions, then the public overwhelmingly disapproves, with 32 in favor and 58 percent opposed.
The problems with the WEA Trust have apparently not gotten as much attention as needed in the last couple of weeks. That may explain this finding as well:
In the most recent poll, almost six out of ten respondents (59 percent) had a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion of public employee unions. Thirty-four percent had a somewhat or strongly unfavorable opinion.
WPRI has the survey’s full crosstabs available. The sample seems a little off, with a D/R/I of 28.1/23.7/29.1, and 19% either confused about the three choices or refusing to answer. The exit polls from the Wisconsin Senate race in 2010 had a D/R/I of 37/36/28, which suggests that both Republicans and Democrats got undersampled, but Republicans significantly more. That wouldn’t be enough to overcome the difference in support for the unions or the demand that Walker negotiate with the fleebaggers to get them back to the state capital. Furthermore, this poll largely agrees with the Rasmussen poll and other surveys taken in Wisconsin.
Walker doesn’t seem inclined to talk while Democrats refuse to engage in the legislature. These kind of poll numbers might push Republicans in the Senate towards a settlement if they continue in this direction.
Update: Charlie Sykes thinks there is more good news in this poll than one might otherwise conclude. Be sure to read his analysis.
The average citizen does not realize how the unions combined coercive power with government power threatens the liberty of individuals in every county and state--indeed, the very nation itself.
Last poll touted about Walker .. was skewed 50% with Union Members or Family Member was Union.
This sounds like more of the same, and I need 2 more sources before I’ll believe it.
If it came from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER, I’d only need 1 more corroborating source.
Exactly! Walker’s stance is popular. The media is trying to spin his stance as unpopular. The MSM is truly the enemy within. If we had a neutral media in this nation, the Democrats power would be in steep decline and we would not have a radical communist Muslim running the country.
Walker has to know that in fact, his position is the popular one among the Wisconsin voters.
Read the polls questions. Its results are what the pollsters intended.
That link has some much more encouraging info and opinion.
(The Charley Sikes link)
[but limiting bargaining rights does nothing to balance the state’s budget situation and is really just an attempt to get rid of public employee unions]
People are so ignorant. Walker need to do a better job explaining his position to the voters.
**Walker’s stance is popular. The media is trying to spin his stance as unpopular.**
And there are “”FReepers”” who BELIEVE this drivel, and fall into the “the Sky is Falling” tripe coming from the MSM.
disgusting
Walker did not draw a line in the sand. The rotten democrats did by running instead of getting on the floor and act like legislators. This is a pile of crap along with the polls.
Flaccid is right. Unions play hardball by default. We fold, wimp out, go “flaccid” by default. If Walker believes what he says (and I hope he does) then he will not compromise. If the Wisconsin Senate Republicans go flaccid, then to hell with all of them.
To expand on that a bit -
What kind of question is it when you ask “Should Gov. Walker compromise”? The word “compromise” means something different to each person.
And with 40 questions, who is even awake by the end of it?
We shouldn't hold him responsible for what he clearly cannot control - liberal media spin.
WPR is not my idea of an unbiased source.
The only way the Republicans can win on anything is to develop a spine and stand their ground. Stop letting a corrupt media dictate all our policies dammit!
Why we shouldn’t fret over early polls like this, or what the MSM tells us:
“Reagan was, for all his optimism, running out of time... By 1982 it was an axiom in the White House that Reagan, like so many of his modern predecessors, would be a one-term president. I believe that Reagan will not run again.”
—Lou Cannon (Reagan biographer, WaPo columnist)
January, 1982
Edited for accuracy.
As is the case with many “polls.” On the other hand, if citizens are properly informed and warned, they may be better able to “see” and avoid cooperating with such dishonest polling.
This is what the leftists intended all along. Delay the vote by fleebagging, gather their forces, create disruption, pound out propaganda to sway people to their side, demonize their opponents, thereby forcing compromise.
This doesn’t warrant it’s own thread, so I’ll just post it here:
According to a communique from Flee Party Headquarters in Undisclosed Location, Illinois this morning:
Miller wants to meet with Walker, Sen. Fitzgerald
Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller says in a letter to Gov. Scott Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald that he wants to meet to find a bipartisan solution to the impasse over the budget repair bill.
“I assure you that Democratic State Senators, despite our differences and the vigorous debate we have had, remain ready and willing to find a reasonable compromise,” Miller writes in the letter. “To that end, I would ask that you or your authorized representatives agree to meet with us near the Wisconsin-Illinois border to formally resume serious discussions as soon as possible.”
-
(Presumably that would be on the IL side of the border...)
It’s not just you.
What they poll doesn’t tell you:
1) Wisconsinites are disgusted with the lack of order in the Capitol building, with campers given free reign.
2) Wisconsinites are frustrated that Walker hasn’t done more to punish state Senators that have fled to Illinois, abandoning their duties.
3) Walker continuously issues public deadlines to the missing Senators and then revises them backward - Return by Friday or layoffs. Return by Tuesday or layoffs. I’m laying people off, but we can stop it in the next 30 days.
He’s projecting weakness and his administration was been a bit too lax in effort to avoid criticism.
Instead, the opposition just piles on.
Walker needs to be more decisive and enforce real deadlines with hard consequences.
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