Budget, Union Contracts Help Boost Corbett's Approval Ratings

By Caleb Taylor | PA Independent

Gov. Tom Corbett may have traded away the chance to get tough on Pennsylvania's public sector unions for a slight boost in the polls.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Aug. 3, Corbett’s approval rating increased to 44 percent in July, up from 39 percent in June, and his disapproval rate dropped to 36 percent from 38 percent in June.

The Quinnipiac poll has a margin of error of 2.7 percent and surveyed 1,358 registered voters.

Union leaders and political experts said Corbett’s jump resulted from his noncontroversial contract negotiation with public-sector unions.

Terry Madonna, professor of public affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, cited the lack of “high drama” in the union pay negotiations as “very helpful” to Corbett’s poll numbers.

“He gave them a pay hike…he has labor peace for the rest of his tenure,” said Madonna. “He doesn’t have all those (labor) demonstrations and reporters covering rallies beating him up. Other states were viciously battling over unions and what they would cut.”

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker and the General Assembly passed a budget-repair bill that limited collective bargaining rights and increased state employees' contributions to their health care and pension plans, igniting protests by public sector unions and supporters this year.

Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said Republican Govs. Chris Christie, of New Jersey, and John Kasich, of Ohio, had negative approval ratings at 47 percent and 50 percent, respectively, in recent Quinnipiac surveys.

In June, the Democratic-controlled New Jersey Legislature agreed to Christie’s widespread cutbacks for union workers, including rolling back benefits, increasing retirement ages and limiting collective bargaining. Kasich signed a bill in March that stripped away Ohio's public employees' ability to collectively bargain for health care and pension benefits.

However, Corbett was much more accommodating of public employees. In July, Corbett agreed to a contract that includes a 4 percent base pay increase with allowances for seniority that could bump up pay increases to as much as 10 percent. The contract will cost the state an additional $164 million annually for the next four years.

Dave Fillman, president of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a union that represents about 45,000 unionized state employees, said Corbett has governed in stark contrast to Christie and Kasich because Corbett has been “pretty fair so far” to unionized workers.

“I think Christie’s and Kasich’s whole agenda was to blame all their (states’) varied problems on public employees and the working class,” said Fillman. “Their numbers have tanked, because the vast majority of the public doesn’t agree.”

However, Corbett slipped in the polls when voters responded to the state budget and Corbett's policies. Regarding the former, 45 percent disapproved compared with 41 percent who approved; in the case of the latter, 43 percent disapproved and 40 approved. 

Mark Nicastre, a spokesman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said in a statement on Wednesday that the poll numbers show that Pennsylvanians disapprove of Corbett’s “unpopular and harmful budget that will hurt the middle class.”

The state budget fulfilled the governor’s campaign pledge to not raise taxes and decrease state spending to $27.15 billion, a reduction of 4 percent from the current fiscal year. But the budget contained a $129 million funding cut to higher education and an $800 million cut to public schools.

Kevin Shivers, Pennsylvania state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, an organization that represents small businesses, said his organization is pleased that Corbett has stayed true to his campaign pledge to reduce spending and not raise taxes.

“The small employers I talk to find it refreshing that his solution to every problem is not just about raising new revenue and raising taxes,” said Shivers.