Poll: Americans Support Public Employees

by Tula Connell, Mar 9, 2011

A Bloomberg National Poll just out finds that 64 percent of Americans, including a plurality of Republicans, oppose Republican-led efforts to take away the right of workers to bargain for good middle-class jobs. The poll also finds public employees are viewed favorably by a large majority: 72 percent, compared with 17 percent who have an unfavorable view.

Sixty-three percent of respondents, including 55 percent of Republicans, say states without enough money to pay for all the pension benefits they have promised to current retirees shouldn’t be able to break those obligations.

In addition, 63 percent of those surveyed, including a majority of Democrats and Independents, say corporations wield more political clout than unions—an imbalance in the checks and balances process that the public undoubtedly understands will only worsen if anti-worker bills backed by governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich in Ohio become law.