Bipartisan consensus behind public employee bargaining rights still in force -- among voters

Greg Sargent
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/02/41_percent_of_republicans_oppo.html

Yesterday USA Today made a big splash when the paper released a Gallup poll finding that 61 percent of Americans nationwide oppose Governor Scott Walker's plan to roll back the bargaining rights of public employees. Today Gallup has released a partisan breakdown of those numbers, and it's striking:

Republicans are the only group that favors rolling back public employee bargaining rights, but even among them, a sizable chunk -- 41 percent -- is opposed. An overwhelming 62 percent of independents is also opposed.

As I noted here yesterday, while many assumed that conservatives would have an easy time scapegoating public employees amid our economic woes, the drive to roll back their right to bargain collectively -- a bedrock union organizing principle that has been supported by bipartisan consensus for decades -- may be pushing the envelope too far.

Indeed, the above poll supports the notion that such a bipartisan consensus, while diminished, may still exist, at least among voters. Walker's proposal has turned the conversation from one about Wisconsin's budgetary needs into something far more ideological, an argument over fundamental workers' rights, perhaps pushing the conversation onto turf where the right may no longer have the upper hand.