Friday, February 18, 2011

51.9 percent of Wisconsinites OPPOSE Gov. Walker's Attack on Unions.

At least one guy was a little skeptical of the Republican claim the public was behind Gov. Walker’s plan to attack the unions.
jsonline: A new poll shows that a small MAJORITY (my emphasis) 51.9 percent, of Wisconsin residents disagree with Gov. Scott Walker’s plans to increase public employees’ share of their benefits and to strip the unions of much of their power.
Oddly, the public also doesn’t understand the implications of a full vote in the Senate:
But the poll also says that a stronger majority of respondents think that Democratic state senators, who fled the Capitol on Thursday to avoid taking a vote on the Walker’s legislation, should return to Madison.
If the Senators returned, the Republicans would block any amendments and strip unions of their collective bargaining rights, which is just the opposite of the majorities position.
According to the poll, 43.05% approved and 51.9% disapproved. 5.05% were uncertain. Females and union households registered higher disapproval. 
On whether the Democratic senators should return to Madison, 55.99% said yes, 36.38% said no and 7.63% were not sure. 
Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of the polling group, said he decided to conduct the poll when he heard that the most people agreed with Walker’s initiatives. A part-time resident of Wisconsin, Durham said it was his hunch the situation wasn’t so clear cut. 
Durham said “It’s pretty clear that people view Wisconsin as a burgeoning swing state,” Durham said. “But clearly, too, there is a history of the state of rewarding people who take stances that aren’t safe, so it makes it an interesting place for people to investigate.” The poll was conducted and paid for We Ask America of Springfield, Ill. 

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm ... you found the one poll that shows >50% support. As a journobloggist, I suggest you google "Walker Union Poll" and look at the online polls (yes, non-random) on newpaper sites -- you'll find the majority favor cutting the unions down to size....

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  2. You're serious? Online polling at politically slanted newspaper sites?

    Sure, that's scientific.

    As a radio veteran, I tend to put my faith in professional polling companies, even if they can steer the questions to achieve a certain result.

    A journobloggist would never suggest an online newspaper poll as a reference to make their point. Never.

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  3. One more thing:

    Read this post on the topic you brought up here.

    http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/whatsnews/article_be38b2a2-3c6d-11e0-b34d-001cc4c002e0.html

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete