About Governor Walker And His Anti-Union Position

Tom Jensen/PPP:

Wisconsin closely divided, but against Walker

On the biggest picture question: do you side with Governor Walker or do you side with the public employee unions 51% of voters in the state go with the unions to 47% who stand with the Governor. On another broad question: do you side more with Governor Walker or with the Democrats in the state Senate, 52% of voters go with the Senate Democrats to 47% who go for Walker. And perhaps the clearest indication that Walker has lost a majority of the voters in the state in this conflict, if only a narrow majority, is that 52% of voters now disapprove of him to only 46% who like the job he's doing. Those numbers are basically the inverse of last fall's election results.

When it comes to broader questions about rights for public employees in Wisconsin the margins are less narrow. 57% of voters think that workers should have the right to collectively bargain for wages, benefits, and working environment rules compared to only 37% who think they shouldn't have those rights. And 55% of voters think that public employees should have at least the same rights they have now, if not more, compared to only 41% who believe they should have fewer rights.

E.D. Kaine:

I’m not sure what all is entailed in ‘loving’ unions. I think it’s more important to understand the benefits unions provide not just their members, but workers across the board. Unions may have all sorts of problems – just like any other organization – but unions do have a legitimate role, and it goes beyond wages and benefits. Union membership provides the middle class with more opportunities to become politically involved and powerful. That’s why it’s so important for people like Walker to bust the teachers unions, and why his poor calculation in this matter may end up helping the Democrats in ways the Democrats never could have helped themselves.

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