The Paul Simon Public Policy
Institute down Carbondale way continues to bravely explore the treacherous
pathways of public opinion in Illinois. Among the 1,000 Illinois registered
voters surveyed in
a recent poll, 57 percent said they have at least a somewhat favorable view
of labor unions.
Those same people said they favored
anti-union right-to-work or “open shop” laws by 48 percent to 24 percent.
Those cunning pollsters then posed a
question to respondents. Agree or disagree: “When everyone in the workplace
shares the gains won by the labor union, all workers should have to contribute
to the union’s costs for negotiating those gains.” More than two of 5 agreed.
Asked their opinion of this aspect of the same policy,
“no American should be required to pay dues to a private organization like a
labor union against their will,” 50 percent supported it.
Carroll’s White Queen designed the
poll.
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2016.
