Now, if only all these folks to GET TO THE POLLS-STARTING ON APRIL 5
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/118675814.htmlSizing up the "public employee vote" in the coming Wisconsin elections
By Craig Gilbert of the Journal Sentinel
March 25, 2011 |(42) Comments
One huge key to the political fallout from Wisconsin’s bitter budget fight will be the voting behavior of public employees this year and next.
Will they vote in higher numbers than before?
Will they vote in higher numbers against Republicans?
And finally, how much voting power do public employees actually wield?
This last question should be the simplest to answer, but there’s no single authoritative measure. The exit polls we rely on to measure the makeup of the electorate don’t ask voters where they work.
But an analysis of government and polling data suggests that “public employee households” – homes with at least one government worker in them – comprise at least a fifth of Wisconsin voters.
In other words, we're talking about a large and highly engaged electoral force with a presence in every corner of the state. These voters are not monolithic, of course. But their sheer numbers suggest that to whatever degree they are mobilized by the budget fight or driven further left politically, Republicans could pay a measurable price at the ballot box. That’s doubly true of low-turnout elections where highly motivated voters can have an oversized impact – such as the legislative recalls expected this summer and the April 5 state Supreme Court race now caught up in the fight over collective bargaining.
Here’s the math on public employees in Wisconsin:.......................