Columbus
Dispatch...
Poll shows Senate
Bill 5 will be repealed
By Darrel Rowland
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Senate Bill 5 would easily be repealed by Ohio voters if the referendum
were held now, a new poll today shows.
The measure to strip many collective bargaining rights from state and
local government workers would be rejected by 18 points, 54 percent to
36 percent, says the Quinnipiac Poll.
“Although it is a long way until November when opponents of SB 5 hope
to ask voters to overturn it, at this point there is strong support for
repealing Gov. (John) Kasich’s signature plan,” said Peter Brown,
assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a
release.
Independent voters, crucial to the success of any statewide candidate
or issue, oppose the controversial measure by 19 points. The measure is
losing by a large margin in every region of Ohio except the west
central area. Central Ohio voters turn thumbs down by a whopping 26
points.
“Not only does he need to rebuild his image, but the governor will need
to move a lot of voters over the next six months if he wants his plan
to survive,” Brown said. “Voters also say they are opposed to several
parts of the new law.”
Kasich’s approval rating has inched up slightly, but he is still what
pollsters call “under water” by double digits. Currently, 38 percent
approve of his performance, 49 percent disapprove. That’s 8 percent
more who approve, but 3 percent more who disapprove, compared to
Quinnipiac’s last survey in March.
“Gov. John Kasich’s job approval has ticked up slightly, but he still
has a long way to go to get back even to parity among voters,” Brown
said. “Most of his increase has come among independents and women
voters who have turned slightly less negative on him.”
Voters still strongly disapprove of how he’s handled the state budget,
which nearly two-thirds of voters acknowledge as a “very serious”
problem. And by a large margin Ohioans don’t think the budget is fair
to people like them. But they are divided on whether Kasich’s budget
cuts will help or hurt Ohio’s economy.
Senate Bill 5 was signed into law by Kasich last month after the
measure drew thousands of protestors for repeated demonstrations at the
Statehouse. A group circulating a petition to repeal the measure has
until the end of June to gather approximately 230,000 valid signatures
of registered Ohio voters to qualify for the November ballot.
Overall opposition to Senate Bill 5 remains about the same as in March,
the survey shows. And the public also doesn’t like most of the major
provisions of the new law.
For example, voters oppose: banning all strikes by public employees, 58
percent to 35 percent; preventing public employee unions from
bargaining over health care plans, 54 percent to 38 percent; and
eliminating seniority as the sole factor in layoffs, 50 percent to 45
percent.
However, as they did in March, Ohioans strongly back a Senate Bill 5
provision requiring public employees to pay at least 15 percent of
their health insurance premiums. This time the support is 59 percent to
34 percent. Two months ago it was 66 to 27.
Voters – even those in union households – back a new requirement that
public workers pay at least 10 percent of their salary for their
pension, 58 percent to 34 percent. Previously, some local governments
picked up the “employee share” of a few of their employees, such as
school superintendents.
And Ohioans back, 57 percent to 35 percent, replacing automatic pay
increases based on length of service with raises based on merit.
However, voters don’t believe, by 52 percent to 38 percent, that
limiting collective bargaining for public employees is needed to
balance the state budget.
The telephone survey, which included both land lines and cell phones,
from May 10 through Monday of 1,379 registered Ohio voters has a margin
of sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
The full poll is at http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/polling/oh/oh05182011.doc
Read it at The Columbus Dispatch
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