Making sense of polls

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll finds 62% of Americans strongly oppose stripping public employees of the right to collective bargaining while at the same time even larger percentages think public employees should contribute more to their retirement benefits (68%) and pay more for their healthcare (63%). By a whopping 77% those surveyed believed public sector union members should have the same rights as private sector union members. To me, none of this is surprising or even incongruous. More after the jump
Wisconsin's Governor Walker wants to eliminate bargaining with the unions representing state employees. That position has little to do with reducing the budget deficit. The unions have already agreed concessions are in order. The employer has the right to refuse any demands made by the union. Only if the employer agrees do politicians need to man up and say "no" in bargaining, not eliminate bargaining altogether. This is a political issue, not an economic one. The political objective is to weaken unions which support the other political party. The problem is, the public does not agree with the objective, even though they agree with hard bargaining with public sector employees to carry some of the burden of reducing the state budget deficit.