Did Connecticut get the memo?

Between August 29 and September 5 a survey was conducted of voters in ten states on behalf of the Manhattan Institute. The results are interesting.  More than 75% of those polled said that their state faced serious budget problems this year, and almost 70% said the problem was resolved by budget cuts, not higher taxes.

The survey involved Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  Whether you believe polls or not, the results of this poll are worth reading.

The top priorities for resolving current fiscal issues are to cut government spending (47%) and to ask for greater sacrifice from current public employees, by having them contribute more towards their benefits (31%). By almost two-to-one, they think that current public employees should have to contribute more toward their pension benefits because of budget problems.

And, when it comes to public employees,

There is a clear belief that public employees are better compensated than those in the private sector: 41% of voters think ‘the salaries and benefits of most public employees are too high for the work they do,” while 32% think they’re ‘about right’ and 13% think they’re ‘too low.’

Voters also believe that public employees generally are allowed to retire in their fifties, but should work to 65 like the private sector does.

And,

[c]ollective bargaining is not overwhelmingly popular in the abstract. A majority (50%) agrees that ‘public employees should not bargain collectively and use union power to limit or delay the delivery of important government services.’ Moreover, 60% of voters feel that collective bargaining is a benefit ‘and can be changed and negotiated based on economic circumstances,’ while 30% see it as essential’ and ‘a basic right of labor.’ In the recent ‘disputes between state governments and public unions over collective bargaining,’ voters side with state officials by 46% to 39%.

Although Connecticut was not one of the states surveyed, it would appear that had those surveyed lived in Connecticut, Governor Malloy’s solution to Connecticut’s problems would have gotten a “thumbs down”.

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

3 Comments

  1. Murphy on September 21, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    Oh they got it , just no one dares read it to D.P.M. For fear he may shoot the messenger, remember ? “it is still worth a man’s neck to disturb an emperor’s image.”



  2. ricbee on September 21, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    ?The numbers are not really important except that they show that the public is finally becoming aware of how large & oppressive our governments have become. Here in Corrupticut the awareness is also widespread but the overwhelming weight of government employees,their families & friends & those getting various welfare payments or free health care continue to re-elect those same self-serving politicians.



  3. Lynn on September 22, 2011 at 8:14 am

    There are still too many voters in CT that are guilty because they made(make) a lot of money.? They are mostly transplanted New Yorkers who think CT is a bargain.? Those of us who have lived here all our lives, just aren’t guilty and would like to keep some of our savings(earnings). However, we are losing our numbers to other common sense states.



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