Rasmussen: Support for budget cutting, not for weakening collective bargaining

Rasmussen: Most Wisconsin voters oppose efforts to weaken collective bargaining rights for union workers but a plurality are supportive of significant pay cuts for state workers. Governor Scott Walker is struggling in the court of public opinion, but how badly he is struggling depends upon how the issue is presented. There is also an interesting gap between the views of private and public sector union families.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Wisconsin voters shows that just 39% favor weakening collective bargaining rights and 52% are opposed. At the same time, 44% support a 10% pay cut for all state workers. Thirty-eight percent (38%) are opposed. That’s partly because 27% of Wisconsin voters believe state workers are paid too much and 16% believe they are paid too little. Forty-nine percent (49%) believe the pay of state workers is about right. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This is now the third poll (NYT and WSJ) that has shown majority support for keeping collective bargaining rights. It is also the third poll that shows that the support slips when you when you show how collective bargaining effects state's budgets.

I think two things are working against Walker. First is clearly messaging. Walker has not done a really good job of explain just how collective bargaining affects things other than employee salary and pension. For example how teacher unions use collective bargaining to impede much needed reform.

The second thing working against Walker is the dragging out of the process. Once the Fleebaggers fled, senate Republicans should have immediately begun cranking up the pressure. As the drama in Wisconsin draws out longer and longer, I expect Walker support for Walker to wain more. Wisconsin should take a cue from Ohio. Over there they are moving very quickly for even stricter reforms.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Rasmussen Reports
Via: New York Times
Via: Wall Street Journal
Via: Cleveland.com

Rasmussen: 67% disapprove of Wisconsin's Fleebaggers

Rasmussen latest polls deals with the standoff in Wisconsin.  The poll finds that while voters are split over public sector unions and Scott Walker, they clearly dislike the Fleebagger tactic.

Rasmussen: Half of America’s voters favor public sector unions for government workers, but they strongly oppose the tactic by Wisconsin state senators to flee their state to prevent a vote that would limit the rights of such unions.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 25% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of this tactic, while 67% disapprove. State legislators in Indiana have used the same approach to avoid a vote in their state. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Sizable majorities of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party reject such a strategy. Democrats are fairly evenly divided, with 48% approving and 44% disapproving.

Voters are split on support of unions:

Voters continue to be closely divided over the question of public employee unions themselves. Fifty percent (50%) at least somewhat favor such unions, while 44% oppose them. These figures include 25% who Strongly Favor the unions and 25% who are Strongly Opposed.

Support for Scott Walker is also on the edge:

Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters nationwide now support Walker, virtually unchanged from earlier this week. Forty-two percent (42%) support the unions for teachers and other state employees in the standoff, up from 38% in the previous survey. Eleven percent (11%) remain undecided.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republicans and 53% of voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties agree with the governor. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of Democrats side with the union workers.

I think if the standoff in Wisconsin goes wrong, these numbers will move one way or the other depending on who looks like the bad guy. If Walker allows this to drag out very long he may come up the loser. On the other hand, if unions continue to escalate their aggression, they could end up the losers.

The clear losers are the Fleebaggers.  I wish Rasmussen would have asked folks why they disapprove.  Is it because it looks like they are sore losers or is it because they are shirking their responsibilities.  I would love to know.

Click over to Rasmussen to see the rest of the results, they are quite interesting.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Rasmussen

Bye-bye bounce: Rassmussen 40% strongly disapprove of Obama

Rasmussen Reports: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17 (see trends). [MORE]

Since passing legislation to allow the current tax rates to remain the same, Obama had enjoyed elevated approval ratings.  It appears that when Obama abandons his leftist ways and pursues centrist or conservative policies, his numbers improve.  If he gets this message, he might be able to dig himself up enough votes next year to get reelected.   Something to watch for over the next couple of months.


 Rasmussen notes that the decline coincides with events unfolding in Egypt.  I would say Obama's WTF State of the Union address probably had something to do with it too. All that "investment" talk did not really fool anybody.


Via: Memeorandum
Via: Rasmussen Reports

Say What? Rasmussen Obama 42 Ron Paul 41

I was pretty tied up with work today, but when this alert came over my BlackBerry this afternoon, my eyes bugged out. 

Rasmussen: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided. 

My initial thought was how the heck did that happen? Upon reflection though, I think it kind of makes sense. Ron Paul has always been known as the guy ringing the bell about much of our financial woes. Now that he has been proven right on that score, more people are willing to take him seriously.

In addition, as a libertarian, Ron Paul is a complete 180 from Obama. As we watch Obama’s poll numbers hit new lows his ideological opposite looks more and more appealing.

I for one never had a problem with Ron Paul’s economic views. He still hasn’t sold me on his foreign policy views. However, if the choice in 2012 was four more years of Obama or Ron Paul’s isolationist tendencies, then I am vote for Ron Paul!

The Rasmussen Report also has some rather interesting findings for the Tea Parties. 

When it comes to major issues confronting the nation, 48% of voters now say theaverage Tea Party member is closer to their views than Obama is. Forty-four percent (44%) hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.

Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters now think Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people. Nearly half (47%) of voters disagree and say a new party is not needed 

Humm, perhaps the media’s demonizing the Tea Parties isn’t really working.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Rasmussen Reports

Well what do you know Tea Partiers are people too

The media has been sending out a steady message that the people who attend Tea Parties are racists from the fringe elements of the far right. However new polls out in the last two days paints quite a different picture.

Starting with a survey conducted by the Winston Group, we learn that a quarter of the Tea Party members are in fact Democrats and Independents. 

The national breakdown of the Tea Party composition is 57 percent Republican, 28 percent Independent and 13 percent Democratic, according to three national polls by the Winston Group, a Republican-leaning firm that conducted the surveys on behalf of an education advocacy group. Two-thirds of the group call themselves conservative, 26 are moderate and 8 percent say they are liberal. 

Next, we have Gallup with a new poll out today that shows Tea Party demographics match up with the demographics of America as a whole, including race! Take that, Keith Olbermann!

Finally, Rasmussen’s poll finds that on the issues most Americans views line up the Tea Party’s views  rather than Obama’s. 

On major issues, 48% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than President Barack Obama. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.

Not surprisingly, Republicans overwhelmingly feel closer to the Tea Party and most Democrats say that their views are more like Obama’s. Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 50% say they’re closer to the Tea Party while 38% side with the President. 

Had the media simply attended the Tea Parties and reported responsibly, rather than trying to put out their own narrative, the data from these polls would have been known long ago. Unfortunately, as we learned from the 2008 election, the media is far more interested in shilling for the Democrats than bringing the truth to the masses.

Once the Tea Party can catch its breath after the 2010 elections, it really needs to turn its ire on the dinosaur media. The media has a lot to answer for with its irresponsible reporting.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Hill

Via: Gallup

Via: Rasmussen 

Rasmussen Poll: Most find Tea Party better on the issues than Congress

How’s this for a slap in the left’s face. After smearing the Tea Party as evil racist hatemongers, most Americans find that the Tea Party is right on the issues. I guess it will back to page one of the Alinsky handbook. 

Rassmussen:[...] The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.

When it comes to those issues, 47% think that their own political views are closer to those of the average Tea Party member than to the views of the average member of Congress. On this point, 26% feel closer to Congress.

Finally, 46% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is more ethical than the average member of Congress. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say that the average member of Congress is more ethical.[...] 

In the battle between the Tea Party and the left, the Tea Party clearly has the upper hand. This is because the left’s policies are not producing results.  The best way for the left to defeat the Tea Party is to have their policies works as advertised. So far we have the stimulus as a complete failure, Cash for Clunkers did not reach its desired effects, first time homebuyers incentive has fallen short and now ObamaCare is starting to give off a stink.

As long as the programs remain failures, the more truth there is in the Tea Party’s criticism of them. Demonizing the Tea Party won’t change that fact either.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Rasmussen Reports