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And governor Tony Evers to use surplus dollars to produce property tech 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 market 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 if you ever conducted a poll with across the board by partisan 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
the cityology 78% of liberals 78% 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 want to check for 300 or $600 to a couple so there are popular elements there I think the other thing that's less obvious is that 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 capital 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 no 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 for property tax relief your for school funding
if both parties took such ambiguous stands on on this budget bill all right Charles Franklin thanks very much thank you
for all the elements of to us under the dome all we need is somebody with a knife in their back though at least metaphorically hevers has that oh man
he was so angry yes yes yeah that interview with Matt