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Add Rick Snyder to the list of Republican governors who over-read their mandate and now find themselves quickly unpopular. First it was Scott Walker in Wisconsin, then John Kasich in Ohio. Now Snyder, whose budget includes large corporate tax cuts while increases in taxes for the working poor, and who pushed through a strengthened set of laws for emergency financial managers, who would be allowed to void union contracts and even fire elected officials, sees his ideas get the thumbs-down from his constituents.
Snyder actually now has the worst numbers of this new trio of GOP Governors, with only 33% of voters approving of him to 50% who disapprove. And despite his overwhelming victory last fall voters now say that if they could do it over they’d pick Virg Bernero over Snyder by a 47-45 margin. Snyder’s current status is definitely emblematic of the adage that the higher you climb the farther you fall.
Snyder has basically lost all his support among Democrats and independents.
But more important than the specific approval numbers on the Governor is how Michigan voters have reacted to the controversial policies that Snyder has pushed. On the emergency financial managers law, the public opposes it 32% to 50%, with independents opposed. Similarly, 59% of Michiganders support collective bargaining for public employees, with only 37% opposed. 49% of voters would support a state constitutional amendment to protect collective bargaining. Ian Milhiser notes that such a vote could be arranged:
As ThinkProgress previously explained, Michigan voters can amend the state constitution by petition and referendum. Just 10 percent of the electorate can place an amendment protecting collective bargaining on the ballot, and a simple majority of the electorate can turn it into law.
You would need about 300,000 signatures to pull this off. Who knows, we could see another state taking the fight over workers’ rights to the ballot box.
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Michigan Republicans might have outsmarted themselves by inserting a modest appropriation in the emergency financial manager bill in order to make it referendum-proof.
The 300K signature requirement is not difficult to meet if the people supporting the measure are well-funded and/or well-organized. Michigan’s labor unions qualify on both counts.
these repuc govs don’t care what the people think, the people fell for it, hook , line and sinker in the run-up to the election. and now they’re in. nothing will stop them now. they don’t care if you hate them, Koch loves them and they have the money. Even if they are recalled, Koch will still love them and fund them. They really don’t care what the people think or what the polls say.
Heh, the Republicans over-read and the Democrats under read theirs. So there IS a difference between the two parties!! Who knew?
No one ever lost an election underestimating the intelligence of the voting public.
I mean really, what did we expect? You elect a businessman to government, especially one worth millions and you get someone who’s concerned only with the bottom line of business. Americans never learn.
Polls, approval ratings, matter not in the least to the Republican chief executive, as proven by GWBush. Fact. Word.
That means that 12% of the voters who disapprove of him would still vote for him. I try to think the best about people, I really do but things like this make it impossible.
Why are you being so nice? Snyder didn’t “over-read” anything. All of these guys are like reporters on Fox “News”, bribed to sufficiency, given instructions from the same playbook to pretend they are moderates, pretend there are problems much greater than those that exist, and justify the dismantling/war on the middle class. This is nothing less than a grand conspiracy and treason against the American people.
Never believe the best in politicians, unless they live like paupers and you can never catch them in a lie.
It’s amusing to see how these Repubtards are so anxious to “whip it out” policy-wise. Don’t even pretend to be fair-minded or doing things in the public’s best interest. Must be surprising to them to see how quickly people are ready to kick them in the nads. Har dee har har.
Okay, I live in Michigan and I haven’t heard ANYTHING about getting 300,000 signatures. Dave–do you know who is starting the effort, if anyone?
I agree Margaret, i don’t understand the reason that they have any support. Public Policy Polling survey released Monday show that Barrett would beat Walker by a margin of 52-45 today. Who are the 45% supporting these draconian policies??? They cut off their nose to spite their face.
agree with you 100%
Yes-How can people help from outside the state? The Wisconsin crowd has a great model, can it be applied to Michigan?
It does not matter what the Republicans do to eliminate the middle class, or oppress the poor. They are perceived to be the “moral” party, they are pro-life, and they are evangelical Christians (at least that’s what they say in public), and no self respecting American could vote for these babykilling, godless Democrats. They’ve learned that lesson well.
Brainwashed since birth, and they appear to be unable to learn that they are hurting themselves, their children, and grandchildren.
You can speak to them with the tongues of angels and yet they will respond with incredible hatred, if you do not agree with their views, no matter how illogical they may be.f
Bluetoe2 — H. L. Mencken would be happy you remembered his great line, except I believe that he used “American” instead of “voting.”
I’m surprised that Bernero wouldn’t beat Snyder right now by more than 47-45. That really puts in doubt a race that probably shouldn’t be that close.
If I have the right information, it takes a minimum of 791,000 valid signatures on petitions to bring about a recall vote. The vote could happen as early as July, though it won’t be that quick. Petitioners will have 90 days to get the signatures (in fact, given the games Repubs play with voter rolls, they should plan to collect about 1.2 million). The vote usually happens around 2-3 months after that, which would make early October (or the November general election) the earliest practical date for the recall vote. Unless someone takes the bull by the horns and the signatures are collected much faster.
One good thing is that organizers can collect the recall signatures at the same time they’re getting those 300K signatures for the constitutional amendment. Might as well make the effort count for more than one thing. I hope the folks in Michigan can do this. It would certainly send a message to those with a Koch addiction.
Archi, Palli, check here, maybe: http://www.bloggingformichigan.com/
I’m looking through their blog lists. If you find anything, would you post it here? I need to know, too.
Maybe I’m not understanding this statistic: The public opposes the financial managers law 32% to 50%? That sounds like a plurality approves of the law.
I hate everything the republicans are doing, but I am so tired of moderates and swing voters being suprised. I live in Wisconsin, and I am so tired of hearing average people say “I thought walker was just going to cut taxes, I didn’t he would cut spending on education, parks, etc.” Walker promised to do these things that why I voted for Barrett. These articles should actually be headlined “Stupid assholes voted only for good stuff candidate promised to do, not the bad stuff.” That my friends is why I don’t write newspaper headlines, and why voters keep running back and forth between the parties. What the average voter wants is a massive republican tax cut combined with a liberal spending surge. They are utterly convinced they can have it all, but that politicians are just hiding the magic fiscal formula for their own ends.
Archi, Palli, recall is started:
http://www.firericksnyder.org/
My daughter’s at U of M. Governor traditionally gives commencement speech in first year of term. Petitions and protests against Snyder have been met with indifference by admin.
And one last thing. Here’s facebook for Michigan rallies: http://www.facebook.com/MIrallyinfo
Good night!
Michiganians prefer that to Michiganders. Recent governors used Michiganian appropriately. Snyder has brought the perjorative term back; adding to the teeth-grinding effect of his administration. Snyder didn’t overstep on his own: he’s got plenty of eager help in the Michigan legislature. There is no “maybe” about a ballot initiative regarding worker rights, and we’ll see if this governor makes four years in Lansing.
It is very encouraging that People have decided to wake-up and be “the ones we are waiting for” to be more responsive in the kind of world they want to live in.
“The world is currently lulled asleep to the lullaby of Barack Obama in the false belief that he is a messiah who can solve the world’s problems with the stroke of his pen. This is a moment of jubilation when hard facts are being ignored. Mounting evidence points to economic collapse, environmental degradation, and the dire conditions of the world’s peoples. Outer change can only result from the depths of the human soul. What the world most needs is a reformation—transformation—of the human psyche.
People must accept responsibility for their actions as a basis for further evolution. This is one of Obama’s repeated messages. He often focuses on the principle that debts must be paid. To account for one’s debts is to become cognizant of having made wrong choices and to be repentant, which means to turn around, to turn away from the “sins” of the past and commit oneself to a new path in the future.
He attempts to convey this while shoring up the house of cards he inherited to avoid catastrophe. This lurks in his mind as a possibility yet he believes it can be avoided.”
Cosmic Whisperings, Grace Anthony
http://www.nextdimensionhealing.com.au/pdf/newearth2012.pdf
This is where people who can get air-time (like Michael Moore) can be so valuable.
They need to be pushing these ballot/recall signature lists,and not just calling for
demonstrations. Incidentally,I also live in Michigan. The entire State apparatus
is controlled by Republicans. We could save $ here by only sending 1 of them
to Lansing,since they all vote alike.
I think that the populace is reeling under the deceit that has been handed to them from every direction and are only now beginning to realize the breadth/width of it. Paradigm shifts cause tremendously confusion and initial paralysis.
It takes a while to make the shift from “things are generally safe and benign” to “almost everywhere there are massive lies and power-mongering at our expense”, and then following it up with coherent action to correct the disintegration. The necessary paradigm shift is impeded in every direction by propaganda and a corrupted justice system. PTBs know that we are reeling and they are working double-time to institutionalize their deceitful and destructive agendas in this human window of confusion. Hence the layer upon layer of simultaneous destructive (and tremendously unpopular) decisions in multiple states, at the same time that equally inexorable destructive decisions are occurring at the fed level.
The “liberal” contingent has been similarly devastated by the bland blatant lies of Obama during his campaign. Some thought he was a messiah, sure, but more thought that he would simply change the tenor of the declining years under Bush/Greenspan. But while Obama’s rhetoric continues to be golden (thus you can quote him about citizen responsibility), his actions are chronically fascist in nature. The common liberal is currently suffering through the psychological consequences of fundamental betrayal.
Some can make paradigm shifts more quickly than others. Some can’t make them at all. But we are waking up, largely because it is happening to us, now, in our local area, next door and at home, so to speak: physical, tangible and undeniable. Once we have gotten over our shock, once we have seen with our eyes the extensive actions of our nation/state’s leaders, once we have processed it, we will be a force to reckon with. We’re getting there.
The PTBs know this too. They are readying for civil trouble and we must do so as well. We must study the process of historical civil disobedience, watch what is happening with our brothers/sisters in the mid-east, and learn the lessons that Central and South American people can teach us. In this single way, I agree with you that people must face responsibility for their actions, by taking responsibility and making action as a citizen of a rapidly declining country.
Snyder’s most common campaign sign was “Vote For RICK”. A real man of the people approach. Now, with the initial mad enthusiam changing to an angry anti-dictator movement he could advertise himself as Reichsfuhrer Of The Ricksfuror State.
When are we going to wake up and realize that these Governors are effectively on a political suicide mission for their masters? They throw a 4 year monkey wrench into the political machinery we call democracy, and we will have to spend 10 years undoing. (from the corporatists’ perspective, the present value gain on savings for 4 to 14 years will more than pay for itself.
In the meantime, these suicide govenors will all migrate to fat ‘industry’ jobs that will emphasize the retirement arts of golf and portfolio gazing. The only effective response is recall or government shut down a la Jasmine Revolution.
The American People tend to fail in that we foolishly believe that these yokels in some fashion are acting ‘rationally’ or that the leaders are doing what they believe is actually for the public’s good — implying it is a difference of philosophy. After all, why would someone act irrationally? The only answer is that these guys don’t give a rat’s ass…
Yeah, like many politicians these days, Snyder actly quite different on the campaign trail. Sure he was conservative and I didn’t vote for him, but he didn’t let on what his intentions were. Immediately after election, he has quickly and thoroughly instituted wild radical change, showing that his intentions were always firmly there but kept carefully secret.
Can we not get rid of our politicians when they just look at you and plain lie merely to get your vote? Is this not illegal?
oops, “acted” not “actly:
Yes, one party turns the heat up so fast on the pot of boiling water that the frog within jumps out saving itself, most of the time, like now! The other party turns the heat up slowly so the frog acclimates to the boiling water until it is boiled alive. Enjoy your Lilly pad, it’s getting steamy. Ribbbittt!