Hot Budget Poll
There’s a new poll up on the AFT-CT website on the current budget, and it’s worth checking out. The poll, commissioned by a coalition of State employees unions, offers some good insight into broader public thinking on our economic situation, and how we ought to address the problems we’re facing. The links to the polling memo and presentation slides are at the bottom of the page linked above.
Seeing as we just wrapped up a big Presidential election year, I’m definitely feeling weary of polls as news items – especially since the research that a poll like this contains is unlikely to color future coverage of budget negotiations. I certainly won’t be holding my breath waiting for Rell’s proposals to be described as “the Governor’s unpopular cuts-only approach.” But still, poll-mania is simply the way of life – spicier and more objective-sounding than most press releases, paying the cost of a poll is just about the only way to guarantee your message gets into the papers. So good on SEBAC for releasing this for public consumption.
Some highlights:
Q42 I am going to read you several approaches they might be able to take in order to balance the state budget, and after I read the approaches, please tell me which approach would be your top choice for balancing the state’s budget.
And, illustrating that even goodwill for Rell personally can’t overcome the public’s preference for a revenue-based solution over Rell’s cut-based plan:
Rell’s Approach: Some leaders, including Governor Rell, say Connecticut must not raise taxes in this economic climate, and instead we must make deep cuts to state spending and focus government on the core services it should provide in order to balance the budget and address this shortfall. They say Connecticut is facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and raising taxes now would hurt businesses and cost us needed jobs, making our economy even worse. They say we have to solve this budget crisis with spending cuts alone.
(SPLIT A) Shared Sacrifices Approach: Other legislative leaders say that we cannot balance the budget with spending cuts alone as they will damage the economy further, and we have to consider a combination of spending cuts and some increases in state taxes. They say there needs to be shared sacrifices by everyone, and the state should make cuts to a variety of public services, increase income tax rates for the wealthiest, as well as close corporate tax loopholes so we can protect those state services that are most vital.
(SPLIT B) Increase Revenue/No Cuts Approach: Other leaders in the state legislature, relying on Nobel Prize winning economists, say our economy has fallen into recession, and now is not the time to make drastic cuts to jobs and services which will only damage our economy further and put us deeper into recession. Rather, they say this is the time to bring about real structural change and reform to state government, while working to protect and improve public services like education, worker training and health care so we can create jobs and strengthen our economy. They propose balancing the budget by eliminating corporate tax loopholes that allow big corporations to pay less in taxes than middle-class families do, and increasing taxes on the wealthiest.
