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Poll: Wisconsinites want Walker to compromise
Wispolitics dot com ^ | 3-5-11 | Greg Bump

Posted on 3/6/2011, 9:25:01 PM by bigbob

Wisconsinites overwhelmingly want GOP Gov. Scott Walker to compromise, a new poll says.

The poll, commissioned by a conservative-leaning think tank, also found that state residents think Democratic President Barack Obama is doing a better overall job than Walker.

Further, Wisconsinites narrowly disapprove of Senate Democrats' decision to leave the state to block a Senate vote on Walker's budget repair bill, which contains language to strip away most public employee union bargaining rights.

The poll of 603 Wisconsinites was commissioned by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and conducted between Feb. 27 and March 1, the day of Walker’s budget address, and has a margin of error of 4 percent. The survey of randomly selected adults included cell phone-users and was directed by Ken Goldstein, a UW-Madison political science professor on leave who is also the co-founder and director of the Big Ten Battleground Poll.

The poll's release comes amid talks between Walker's office and the Senate Democrats. Walker has hinted recently at compromise but said he won't compromise on the core principles of his bill.

But the poll asked respondents to say which of two statements came closest to their view: ``Governor Walker should stand strong for the plan he has proposed no matter how long the protests go on, or Governor Walker should negotiate with Democrats and public employees' unions in order to find a compromise solution.''

Sixty-five percent of those polled said Walker should compromise while 33 percent said Walker should stand strong. The other 2 percent said they didn't know or refused to answer.

On the job approval questions, Obama scored a 53 percent-42 percent positive job approval score. For Walker, 43 percent of respondents said they strongly approved or somewhat approved of the job he was doing, while 53 percent either somewhat disapproved or strongly disapproved. The strongly disapproved mark was 45 percent.

Poll respondents were more evenly divided on the question of whether they approved of "Senate Democrats' decision to leave the state in order to prevent the passage of the budget repair bill that would reduce public employee benefits and change collective bargaining rights." Of those answering, 51 percent disapproved and 47 percent approved; 42 percent strongly disapproved.

Asked what they think the top priority of the governor and the Legislature should be, 27 percent said balancing the budget, 1 percent higher than said improving the state’s economy and protecting jobs. In the November 2010 WPRI poll, 49 percent of the respondents said that state government’s top priority should be jobs and the economy.

Those polled also gave generally favorable marks to public employees, public employee unions, teachers, teachers' unions and Democrats in the Legislature. They were split on Republicans in the Legislature and generally unfavorable toward Walker and Tea Party members. The respondents were about evenly divided in identifying themselves as Republican, Democrat or independent.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: compromise; walker; wipoll; wisconsinflees; wisconsinshowdown
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Without sampling details I think this poll carries little importance. In addition, the results are self-contradictory..for example a large majority believes that spending is a "big problem" and that union workers should pay more for benefits yet the same large majority want Gov. Walker to "compromise". The poll question is crap because "compromise" could mean different things to each respondent, but moreover this just proves my contention that people have not thought this issue through enough, or fail to understand the link between the ability to reduce spending and have public union members pay more and the need to limit their collective bargaining power as Gov. Walker's bill does.

The poll shows tis has been turned into an "us vs them" issue and most people do not understand the underlying real issues, IMHO.

Link to the actual poll questions can be found at the site.

1 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:25:08 PM by bigbob
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To: bigbob

I find that hard to believe or Wisconsin is not getting any better politically after all. One or the other is true.


2 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:26:12 PM by napscoordinator
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To: bigbob

Sounds like trying to get rid of collective bargaining is the bridge too far.


3 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:26:15 PM by Huck (Mrs. Palin = Christine O'Donnell)
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To: bigbob

Um. THIS Wisconsinite DOES NOT!

Funny how ‘they’ NEVER ask me, LOL!


4 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:27:03 PM by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: bigbob

In other words, “Wisconsinites” have no problem with letting the union thugs screw them over and steal their money. Morons.


5 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:27:54 PM by FlingWingFlyer (Just say NO to union greed!)
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To: bigbob
I conducted a poll of Wisconsonisites and 97.6% are with Walker.

Tie goes to the runner.

6 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:29:28 PM by E. Pluribus Unum ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." -- Barry Soetoro, June 11, 2008)
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To: bigbob
I wonder how many union people were in this poll?
7 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:29:37 PM by golfisnr1
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To: bigbob

>also found that state residents think Democratic President Barack Obama is doing a better overall job than Walker. <

I suspect this “poll” is garbage. Whenever an article has “poll conducted by conservative...’, it usually isn’t conservative.


8 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:30:54 PM by max americana
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To: bigbob

anyone that would pay any attention to propaganda like this garbage is a total dummy.


9 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:31:36 PM by kingattax (99 % of liberals give the rest a bad name)
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To: bigbob

I sense that Scott believes that compromise on the major points of his plan will doom it to failure, therefor I don’t think he will. It is a strange position for me to take, that a politician will stand firm...this is uncharted ground.


10 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:31:58 PM by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: bigbob

There is nothing to compromise.

The idea that people paying into their own benefits plan is horrifying to the left is what needs to be fought tooth and nail


11 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:32:18 PM by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: bigbob
Maybe the uninformed want Walker to cave.

The informed certainly do not.

Informed citizens know that the teachers union has ruled WI for decades and has gained power and benefits that are beyond fair and reasonable.

Perhaps the uninformed need to learn about the union abuses of taxpayer money.

Perhaps the poll should ask if taxpayer money for teachers and their unions should be funneled to the Democrat Party?

12 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:32:18 PM by ADSUM (Democracy works when citizens get involved and keep government honest.)
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To: bigbob
commissioned by a conservative-leaning think tank...The survey of randomly selected adults included cell phone-users and was directed by Ken Goldstein, a UW-Madison political science professor

Just because it was commissioned doesn't they did the actual polling. And conservative-leaning doesn't necessarily mean actual conservatives.
13 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:36:12 PM by Son House (Finally, people lie because they feel if they tell the truth they wonÂ’t get what they want.)
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To: bigbob

There is no overwhelming disapproval of Walkers policies. The poll is 51% against Walker and 47% for with a MOE of 4%. That is not overwhelming by any standard. Actual poll on WPR website.

http://www.wpri.org/polls/March2011/poll0311.html


14 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:36:46 PM by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: bigbob

Because its common knowledge that these public sector jobs are run by hard-core sweatshop boss type execs whose stockholders demand they squeeze every last drop of blood from their workers while forcing them to accept peanuts for their hard work. /sarcasm

If a Union is actually a real need then the Arrogant/Blood Sucking CEOs for their company (Taxpaying Citizens) should be held accountable.

Since these are PUBLIC Jobs where nobody ever has to perform while they are paid more than Private Sector Jobs AND pay nothing for the Health care then I as screw them.

Thier Union Bosses can use that “we need to level the playing filed against the Evil CEO” BS somewhere else!

Public Sector Unions are nothing but a cartel that demands a forced tax that goes strait into electing Democrats and is MUST END NOW!!


15 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:37:14 PM by R0CK3T
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To: bigbob

cross tabs and internals are at the bottom of this page
http://www.wpri.org/polls/March2011/poll0311.html


16 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:38:11 PM by mrsmith
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To: bigbob

If true no wonder Wisconsin is in trouble. Voters can’t have it both ways.

And to be honest, I would judge any poll like this on WHO the ays and nays were. If there is a clear split between supporters and nonsupporters, and givers and takers, I would ignore alot of the bottom line. Those who aren’t contributing wouldn’t carry much weight, and they wouldn’t support my policies anyway. So they don’t count for much.


17 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:38:11 PM by A_Former_Democrat ("Celebrate 'Civility'")
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To: bigbob
If all these “Wisconsinites” really exist, let ‘em recall Walker before he can get reform done and at the same election they can vote to have the unions set their tax rates, too. They should be happy to do both, .........or maybe this “poll” is crap.
18 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:38:54 PM by Navy Patriot (Sarah and the Conservatives will rock your world.)
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To: bigbob

“Conservative leaning think tank?”

I seriously doubt it.


19 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:40:29 PM by Happy Rain ("Only God has more power than the Second Amendment to save America.")
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To: bigbob
On the job approval questions, Obama scored a 53 percent-42 percent positive job approval score.

This is a bit disturbing... in several other states, Boy 0 has seen a resurgence in popularity.

20 posted on 3/6/2011, 9:41:47 PM by ScottinVA (The West needs to act NOW to aggressively treat its metastasizing islaminoma!)
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