M&A also asked whether voters would be more or less likely to support a Member of Congress who voted for legislation that took away the right to have a private union ballot. By a 70% to 8% margin, those polled said that they would be less likely to support someone who voted for such a measure. (16% said it would make no difference.)
This poll is worth a closer look, because it's a good example of how a sophisticated political strategy group frames an issue.
Though M&A is a Republican polling firm, their methodology looks solid. They used a random sample that included members of both parties. Union supporters would probably consider the poll biased, because it doesn't ask about issues of wage growth or other claimed benefits of unions. But, unless M&A is concealing something (which I doubt), I don't see how anyone can read it without concluding that people don't like electing unions without secret ballots.
Partisans on both sides often argue over the framing of an issue, especially since frames usually include distortions. One common distortion is to concentrate on a small, subsidiary point from a large piece of legislation. In this case, H R 800 is a short bill, and certifying a union without a secret ballot is the most important change in the bill: there's no cherrypicking here. Another common frame is to use polarizing, oversimplifying language (e.g., "cut and run"). Again, that's not in evidence here.
In this case, I think that the Republican's frame fits. This issue is a loser, and that Democrats should prepare to be attacked over it.
]]>M&A also asked whether voters would be more or less likely to support a Member of Congress who voted for legislation that took away the right to have a private union ballot. By a 70% to 8% margin, those polled said that they would be less likely to support someone who voted for such a measure. (16% said it would make no difference.)
This poll is worth a closer look, because it's a good example of how a sophisticated political strategy group frames an issue.
Though M&A is a Republican polling firm, their methodology looks solid. They used a random sample that included members of both parties. Union supporters would probably consider the poll biased, because it doesn't ask about issues of wage growth or other claimed benefits of unions. But, unless M&A is concealing something (which I doubt), I don't see how anyone can read it without concluding that people don't like electing unions without secret ballots.
Partisans on both sides often argue over the framing of an issue, especially since frames usually include distortions. One common distortion is to concentrate on a small, subsidiary point from a large piece of legislation. In this case, H R 800 is a short bill, and certifying a union without a secret ballot is the most important change in the bill: there's no cherrypicking here. Another common frame is to use polarizing, oversimplifying language (e.g., "cut and run"). Again, that's not in evidence here.
In this case, I think that the Republican's frame fits. This issue is a loser, and that Democrats should prepare to be attacked over it.
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