Poll: More back unions than GOP governors

[irishbobcat]

Poll: More back unions than GOP governors
Sunday, April 3, 2011  03:12 AM


LOS ANGELES - More Americans back public-employee unions than governors seeking to balance strained budgets by demanding givebacks, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.

The poll showed that

48 percent agree with public-employee unions, compared with 39 percent who back the governors. It marks somewhat of a leveling of the political playing field on an issue that the GOP has pushed, most noticeably in the Midwest.



The trendsetter has been in Wisconsin, where tens of thousands of unionists protested for weeks against a GOP plan to increase the share of pension and health benefits paid for by public employees.

The proposal has been signed into law but has

not gone into effect, with challenges pending in

the courts.

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich on Thursday signed into law a measure that bans strikes and curbs the collective-bargaining rights of unions for public employees.

According to Gallup, which surveyed 1,027 people from March 25 to 27, almost a majority backs the overall union position, although 13percent said they have no opinion or blame both groups.

Not surprisingly, seven

in 10 Democrats say they support the unions.