The Thicket at State Legislatures

Are Budget Challenges Affecting Public's Satisfaction with State Governments?

by Gene Rose

 The public's satisfaction of state governments dropped sharply from last year, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Fifty percent of the public holds a favorable opinion of state governments, while 44 find them unfavorable, according to citizens polled in July this year. This is sharp decline from the April 2008 survey, when the public held a 59 percent approval of state governments and 37 percent held an unfavorable view.

State fiscal conditions are inferred as a contributor to this sharp change. Using information from NCSL's July survey of state legislative fiscal officers, the research group noted:

"The balance of opinion regarding state governments has turned negative in states with the largest budget gaps – the size of the shortfall relative to the state’s overall budget. In the 12 states facing the largest budget gaps, 58% now have an unfavorable view of their state governments while only 38% have a favorable view. In April 2008, opinion was evenly divided in these states (48% favorable, 47% unfavorable)."

Interestingly, Americans views of the federal government appear to be shifting the other way. While half still hold an unfavorable opinion, 42 percent hold a favorable view. This is an improvement from the April 2008 numbers when only 37 percent were favorable and 58 percent were negative.

Local governments continue to have the best ratings of the three groups, with 60 percent being favorable and 32 percent unfavorable, both numbers down slightly from last year.

Vote for President

by Karl Kurtz

Who is your favorite cartoon character who has run for president? 

In the course of researching the "Pogo (or You or Anyone Else) for President in the News" posting below, I discovered a fascinating Wikipedia article, "List of Fictional Presidential Candidates," which includes more than 50 characters in movies, novels and cartoons who have run for president.  I have picked out the following cartoon characters for you to choose the cartoon character you would most like to be president.

• Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine, who has been running for president every four years since 1956.
• Bill the Cat from the comic strip Bloom County, who ran in 1984 and 1988.
• General Zod, one of the villains in Superman comics who has a campaign web site for president in 2008.
• Howard the Duck, who ran on the All Night Party ticket in 1976.
• Pogo Possum, who ran 1956-80.
• Uncle Duke of Doonesbury, who ran in 2000.

Vote early and vote often:

 

   

Poll Results: Committee Chair Pay...and the Poll Transformed

by Karl Kurtz

Regular readers of The Thicket will have noticed that the same poll regarding special pay for committee chairs has been up at the top of the right column of the page for months--since Feb. 8, to be exact, when Tim Storey posted "Should Committee Chairs Get Paid More?".  The results of that poll showed that The Thicket readers overwhelmingly think that all legislators in a state should receive the same pay.  In response to the question, "Who in the legislature should get more pay?", 304 readers (72 percent) chose "No one--all legislators should be paid the same," 85 (20 percent) said that committee chairs and leaders should receive premium pay, and 34 (8 percent) chose leaders only (not committee chairs).

We have had something of a purist notion about our polls: we want them to relate somehow to a posting.  There were only two things wrong with that concept.  First, we have had difficulty coming up with good poll questions, as witness the long run for the most recent poll (readers have come up to us at meetings and said, "Change the poll for heaven's sake!").  Second, once we post a relevant poll, because its position is static in the right column and the postings move downward as new items appear, the two are soon separated from each other.

Therefore, we have decided to ditch the poll in the right column and instead to embed it in the relevant postings.  Like this:

Poll Results: Watching Legislative Broadcasts

Our poll asking how frequently you watch broadcasts of legislative proceedings, which was based on Pam Greenberg's post, "Is Anybody Watching," was up for about two weeks and drew only 14 responses.  But those who did respond confirmed the legislative junkie nature of our readers: Half of the respondents said that they watch their state's legislative sessions daily.  Two said that they tune in about weekly, and the remaining five said either that they seldom or never watch or that no broad cast is available in their state.

Poll Results: Committee Powers

by Karl Kurtz

Our online poll in The Thicket relating to a posting about the powers of legislative committees, "Should legislative committees have the power to kill bills on their own, or should they be required to report all actions to the chamber?" drew 130 responses.  79 respondents (61%) said that committees should be able to kill bills on their own, while 39 (39%) said that committees should have to report their actions to the chamber as a whole. 

Without having any way of knowing, my best guess would be that the great majority who support the ability of committees to make decisions without approval of the body as a whole were legislative insiders--legislators and staff who see lots of bad legislation and want the system to be efficient as possible.   Readers outside the legislature are more likely to favor a more accountable and democratic legislature in which a small group cannot act on behalf of the entire chamber.

Can You Poll Me Now?

by Gene Rose

With the Iowa caucuses less than a month away, it seems a new poll is released every day. The media can't wait to tell us what we collectively think. It's a much easier story to do than to actually delve into the issues, but that's a topic for another day.

National interest in state legislative races is growing and, consequently, polls are being used more in those races. An interesting story in today's The New York Times, "Cellphones Challenge Poll Sampling," says 16 percent of America's households are cell phone only, up from just 3 percent in 2003.

The rules are different for calling cell phones for poll purposes, the story says, and there are some other ethical, financial and even safety questions that the practice raises.

Since certain populations are more likely to live in land-line free homes, there is some concern on how accurate polling data based on land-line-only calls are. Researchers say the scientific validity of polls are safe for now, but are aware that this could change if the number of homes with cell phones only grows.

The reason most state legislative candidates don't use polls is due to the cost. If pollsters have to start adjusting for land-line-free homes, the cost is likely to go up.

Poll Results: Quiz on Power to Declare War

The Thicket readers have shown that they know their Constitution.  Eighty-three percent of those who responded to the quiz question, Who has the power to declare war?, got it right by answering the Congress.  Fourteen percent said that the President has this power, and two percent each thought that the Secretary of Defense or the Joint Chiefs of Staff can declare war.  The poll, which was based on the posting, "Can You Pass the Citizenship Test?," was up for almost two months (apologies to regular readers who got bored with it) and drew 178 responses.

Poll Results: Hollywood's Civic Duty

Our poll question, "Does Hollywood have a responsibility to portray democratic institutions in a fair and accurate manner?", which was inspired by the posting about the movie Evan Almighty,  was up for more than a month and drew 95 votes.  We were surprised by the results of this one, expecting that the great majority would respond "no" on the basis that Hollywood is in the business of selling stories and anything is fair game.  Instead the results were close with 45 (47 percent) of our readers saying "yes" and 50 (53 percent) "no."

Again proof that our readers truly are legislative junkies.

Poll Results: Confidentiality of Bill Drafts

Our poll, "Do you think that legislators should have the right to share bill drafts (before they are introduced) with some members of the public but not with others?", which was inspired by Bruce Feustel's post, "A Separation of Powers Victory in Wisconsin," drew 36 responses.  In a vote that was closer than we would have expected in a blog whose readers are presumably favorably disposed to the legislative branch, 21 (58%) responded yes and 15 (42%) said no.

Polling Results: The Thicket Readers Truly are Legislative Junkies

Nearly 80 percent (42) of the 53 of you who responded to our poll about the Frederick Wiseman documentary, State Legislature, said that you would be willing to watch a three hour 37 minute video on the Idaho legislature.  Enjoy the popcorn.