And Governor Tony Evers to use
surplus dollars to produce property
tax. I know.
I could tell.
Sorry. They didn't have my
mic up.
The deal between Republican
legislative leaders and Governor
Tony Evers to use surplus
dollars to reduce property taxes,
increase school funding, and give
out tax rebates failed in
colossal fashion when most
Democrats voted against it and
Republican candidate for governor
Tom Tiffany blasted
the bill ahead of the vote.
But when asked,
most people across the state said
they were for it.
A new Marquette Law School poll
found 80% of Wisconsin
adults say the legislature
should have passed the measure.
Poll Director Charles Franklin is
here with more and thanks very much
for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So have you ever conducted a poll
with across the board bipartisan
results on any issue like this?
There are a few, but they're really
rare. And on this one with the
80% in favor,
that was 77% of
Republicans, 81% of independents,
82% of Democrats.
That is really an incredibly
narrow range across party.
And it's also the same across
ideology, 78%
of liberals, 78%
percent of conservatives.
And statewide, in every media
market in the state, It's in
the high 70s or 80s in
support of the bill
What do you think was most resonant
about why people wanted this?
Well, I think the fundamental thing
is that it gives
something that everybody
wants at least a piece of.
In our other polling this year,
we've seen concern about reducing
property taxes is high,
with funding for special education
is a 70% in favor
of that.
And who doesn't wanna check for
$300 or $600 to
a couple?
So there are popular elements there.
I think, the other thing that's less
obvious is But this is
a kind of old fashioned compromise
where everybody got something and
it's all about the good things
you're getting rather than the bad
things.
The conflict in politics and in
the Capitol may have made it hard
for that compromise to carry over
in the actual votes where you saw
both some Republicans and
all Democrats in the Senate voting
know that that
inability to reach a compromise
and stick to it.
Is much easier for the public to
see this as a reasonable outcome,
maybe harder for legislators.
So in your polling, you referenced
the potential fiscal impact,
but you surveyed people before the
Legislative Fiscal Bureau actually
put a specific $2.9
billion number on a
potential projected deficit
as a result of this.
Do you think if you had that
specific number it would have
changed the results?
It might have changed it a little
bit. That report came out after
we were already in the field, so it
was too late to incorporate it.
But we did ask a separate
question that said some opponents
have said this is fiscally
irresponsible.
Do you think it would be better to
wait until we have a better picture
of next year's budget or pass
it now, even if that means
a potential future budget deficit?
It was still 69%
saying it should be passed now.
Just 21% say wait
until later.
So having that information,
those real doubts about the fiscal
situation did lower
support by 11 points,
but it still left more than two
thirds in favor.
And again, across the board,
Republican, independent and
Democrats still wanted it to happen
now.
Back to your results,
how surprising is it that usual
party politics kind of don't
apply here?
It's very surprising because so
little that we see
in state politics is
bipartisan this way.
I think part of what's going on is
you had an odd combination of
bipartisan support for the
bill, Governor Evers and
Republican leadership,
but you also had bipartisan
opposition, Tom Tiffany's
opposition.
Most of the Democratic candidates
either were outright opposed
or were very lukewarm about the
bill.
And as we saw in the vote
split, there were three
Republicans in the Senate, enough to
sink the bill without Democratic
support and all Democrats opposed.
So you had both bipartisan support
and bipartisan opposition.
So what's a partisan to do when
they're sent such conflicting
messages?
And the result was just almost
no difference in how the parties
felt about the bill.
Now, there is the piece about
Governor Evers not working with his
Democratic caucus on this, and
then they mostly vote against it.
What do you make of Evers' play in
this legislation?
I think that's a politically
stunning result,
not one that most voters pay
that much attention to day in and
day out.
But it surfaces the fact
that for seven and a half
years, Evers has really
had to deal with the Republican
majorities in the legislature.
The Democratic minority could do
very little to help him,
though it was vital for passing the
most recent budget, for example.
But he just hasn't been forced
politically to work with the
Democrats in the legislature.
But this was really surprising
that his party would desert
him so completely
on, you
know, the sort of capstone bill of
his term as governor.
You asked the question in your poll
whether positions on this bill will
affect the November elections, will
it?
25% said it would be
very important for their fall vote.
I take that with a grain of salt.
Fall is still a good ways away.
But what I think we can be certain
of is that the issues
of property tax, funding
for schools, those
things are going to be at
the center of our fall campaigns,
even if voters have completely
forgotten about this bill.
And I'm not sure that they will
forget about the bill, but...
How do you sell that your four
property tax relief, your four
school funding,
if both parties took such ambiguous
stands on this
budget bill?
All right, Charles Franklin, thanks
very much. Thank you.
It's got all the elements of
under the dome all we need
is
All we need is somebody with a knife
in their back, though at least
metaphorically Evers has that.
Oh, man.
He was so angry.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah,
that interview with Matt.