Rasmussen Reports released a survey Thursday finding the majority of Wisconsin voters oppose changes to collective bargaining rights.
Fifty-two percent of those surveyed by the slightly Conservative polling services aid they were opposed to Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to weaken bargaining rights for public employees, while thirty-nine percent said they supported the move. These findings are consistent with other major survey results from the last week.
""When you're getting similar results from Republican-leaning polls as well as the more traditionally Democrat-leaning polls, that really shows you where the people of Wisconsin stand,"" UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said.
The survey also asked likely Wisconsin voters separately if they would support or oppose a 10 percent pay cut to all state workers. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they would agree with this action and 38 percent were opposed. Walker has not proposed any salary cuts to public employees other than the requirement that they pay more than they currently do for health care and pensions.
""I think this shows it would be a slam dunk for Governor Walker if his bill focused only on the increased pension plans and health care, but when you couple that with the bargaining rights and limits on pay increases, that's when you run into all the controversy that we're seeing today,"" Franklin said.
—Nick Graetz
