The first half of the EPIC/MRA poll that showed Gov. Rick Snyder’s approval/disapproval ratings plummeting received lots of media attention on Tuesday. But the second half of the poll may indicate even bigger problems for Snyder and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature.
EPIC/MRA put together a poll that runs the full gamut of issues that Snyder is pushing, plus some of the controversies related to labor rights. If this poll is even reasonably accurate, it spells bad news for the GOP for 2012.
Essentially, all of Snyder’s tax and budget policies are opposed by the public. More importantly, none of those policies are backed by the all-important independent voters.
Bernie Porn, the chief pollster for EPIC/MRA, produced 15 pages of polling numbers that are like a Christmas present for political junkies. He slices and dices the poll results into so many categories that anyone with a passing interest could find 10-20 numbers that stand out.
What the poll found is that big majorities are not in tune with Snyder. They oppose taking away collective bargaining rights from workers; would support a ballot proposal to protect collective bargaining rights; resist chopping the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income workers; reject Snyder’s plan – and the eventual GOP compromise – to tax pension income; disagree with the new emergency manager law for financially failing cities and school districts; and differ with the governor’s spending cuts for K-12 education cuts.
Most of these numbers are fairly lopsided. And the key independent voters seem to view Snyder as out of touch. Nearly three-quarters opposed the previously proposed elimination of the EITC; 62 percent think the emergency manager law was a mistake; 71 percent don’t like either the original or revised version of the pension tax; and 72 percent are in opposition to the K-12 cuts.
What’s more, despite the political tone across the Midwest over the past 2 ½ months, a 49 percent plurality of all respondents said they are against the plan to put another $180 million in concessions on the backs of state employees. Perhaps more surprising is that 48 percent said teacher pay is about right, and Republicans were ahead of the curve at 54 percent.
As for teacher benefits, 41 percent indicated the levels are about right but the remaining numbers were unbalanced, with 39 percent indicating benefits are too expensive while just 13 percent said they are too little.
One last curious outcome: In a two-part question, poll participants initially said they would support a ballot proposal to make Michigan a right-to-work state, by a 54-45 percent margin. That first question told the respondents that 23 states have right-to-work laws which give workers the right to refuse to join a union or pay union dues at their workplace.
But, just seconds later, those who were supportive or undecided on a right-to-work law changed their minds and sided 55-43 percent in opposition to the potential proposal.
The difference? In round two they were informed of the counterargument — that workers who reject union membership would still receive the full pay and benefits negotiated by the union, without contributing any dues to the union’s expenses.
See the next post for how Macomb Republicans reacted to the Snyder proposals.
