More than 60% oppose GOP efforts to curb bargaining, poll says

Sixty-three percent of Americans polled by Bloomberg don't think states should be able to break their promises to retirees, and respondents split over whether Republican governors aim to balance their budgets or weaken unions that back Democratic foes.

The poll, conducted March 4-7, shows that political challenges to government workers are failing to draw broad support from a public more concerned about unemployment than government deficits. Respondents are divided over whether public employees should sacrifice to help states ease their fiscal crises: About half say governors are unfairly targeting unions and 46% say public employees should be willing to accept benefit cuts. The fracture largely reflects party lines.

With states facing budget deficits of $175 billion over the next two years, tax revenue yet to rebound from the recession, and pension funds strained by investment losses, even government workers in Democratic-led states including New York and California are facing job losses, pay cuts or challenges to retirement benefits.

Rising tensions between Republican politicians and state workers sparked protests in the Midwest. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, first elected in the November races that also put their party in charge of a majority of states and the U.S. House, are seeking to roll back the collective bargaining rights of government workers. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also has challenged worker benefits he says threaten to hobble his state.

Poll respondents differ over whether government workers do better than their private-sector counterparts: 43% say government workers are better compensated, 21% say they are compensated less, and 27 percent say about the same.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed — including a majority of Democrats and independents — say corporations wield more political clout than unions. Public employees, meanwhile, are viewed favorably by a large majority: 72%, compared with 17% who have an unfavorable view.

Government employees account for the majority of union members in the U.S. as a result of the long decline in manufacturing industries. In 2010, 7.6 million of the 14.7 million U.S. union members worked in the public sector, according to the Labor Department.

Sixty-four percent of respondents, including a plurality of Republicans, say public employees should have the right to bargain collectively for their wages. Sixty-three percent, including 55% of Republicans, say states without enough money to pay for all the pension benefits they have promised to current retirees shouldn't be able to break those obligations.

Seventy percent of Democrats say Republican governors are unfairly targeting public employee unions, while a majority of Republicans and independents say public employees should be willing to make sacrifices because of the state budget shortfalls.

Also, 62% of Democrats say the GOP governors are trying to weaken unions, while 71% of Republicans say deficits are the target. Independents are divided 51% to 41%, with the majority saying budgets are the cause.

The poll of 1,001 adults conducted by Selzer & Co. has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.