MADISON — After Wisconsin’s political war over collective bargaining, new polling data show Badger State voters nearly split on the law that gutted most public employee unions.
But the results indicate ambiguity among Wisconsinites when it comes to fixing what ails the government and restricting collective bargaining.
The poll, conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a New York-based organization that promotes free-market principles, found Wisconsin voters support measures to restrict spending to fix the bleeding state budget. They just don’t agree on the fix.
The Wisconsin polling information, released Monday by conservative news outlet John K. MacIver Institute in Madison, found 46 percent of respondents believe public employees’ salaries should be frozen, and those same public employees should contribute more to their fringe benefits; 42 percent say public employees’ salaries should not be frozen, and they shouldn’t have to contribute more to their benefits.
Schoen surveyed 400 registered voters in the state from Aug. 29 through Sept. 5 for the poll, which has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
It’s a measure of sentiment following the passage of Wisconsin’s controversial Act 10, which curtailed collective bargaining for most public employees and ignited mass protests at the Capitol.
Proponents argue the changes, which demand public employees pay a greater share of their health insurance and pensions, helped the state fill a $3 billion-plus budget hole and will save local governments millions of dollars. Opponents argue the law stripped workers of basic rights and forced wage cuts for employees.
The poll found 53 percent of respondents favor restricting some collective-bargaining rules, while 45 percent are opposed to restrictions. Another 56 percent of those polled said public employees should be required to pay more for their benefits or live with benefit reductions when governments can’t afford them.
Still, 48 percent said collective bargaining is an essential right, and the poll shows voters are divided on a new provision requiring public unions to recertify every year.
“What voters are saying is, they buy the outlines of the argument, they just don’t see the links between collective-bargaining reform and financial reform. That’s the disconnect in the electorate,” Doug Schoen, a renown pollster, commentator and the namesake of the firm that conducted the poll, told Wisconsin Reporter.
State Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-21st Assembly District, said he believes the mixed feelings of voters come from mixed messages to the electorate,
Van Wanggaard said many Wisconsinites don’t understand that while collective bargaining was limited, basic protections like workplace safety and grievances remain. The senator made the case for them during the debates, and said he’s proud the core components are part of the law.
He said a nation of rights has gotten tied to the notion that collective bargaining is a right, when, particularly in trying economic times, it is a privilege.
“When you’re bargaining for something, you don’t have it forever,” he said. “The problem is, these benefits have gotten so out of whack.”
The brunt of respondents, 47 percent, said the changes will make it easier for local governments to control their budgets.
Wisconsin voters mirror sentiments nationwide. The Manhattan Institute poll, surveying 1,000 U.S. registered voters, found 47 percent favor cutting government spending and ask for “greater sacrifice from current public employees.”
Again, Schoen said, skepticism toward collective bargaining doesn’t translate directly into support of initiatives that eliminate the cornerstones of labor unions.
Voters in Wisconsin, as in the nationwide poll, don’t favor of fixing budget problems with tax increases — 55 percent of Badger State respondents said they do not want to see a tax increase.
One issue Wisconsin voters can agree on: Politicians, they believe, are to blame for the fiscal mess the state has suffered through. The fiscal problems have been punctuated by greatly underfunded employee pensions and health-care plans, the survey data showed.
The poll found 44 percent of respondents believe elected state officials made careless and self-serving decisions over the years, and 21 percent said state governments spent too much money. Another 18 percent said employee benefits are too high and unsustainable.
M.D. Kittle writes on politics for the Wisconsin Reporter, an affiliate of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.
