Voter Opinions On Pension Benefits

Sacramento, CA– Over the past few years there has been a shift in the way California voters view pension benefits received by public workers.

As recently as two years ago, The Field Poll found that 40% of voters believed that the pension benefits most state and local government worker received, were at about the right level. A smaller portion, 32%, viewed these benefits as being too generous, while just 16% felt they were not generous enough.

Today attitudes have changed. Now 42% of voters believe that the pensions most public workers received are too generous and 34% think they are about right.  One in seven, 14%, feel they are not generous and 10% have no opinion.

The issue of collective bargaining rights of public sector employees has also been getting increased attention in California and in other states in recent months.

California voters in this survey were asked their overall opinion of the idea of taking away collective bargaining rights of public sector employee unions as part of the state’s deficit reduction efforts. 50% of voters oppose this approach, while 42% are in favor.

These were findings of a joint survey taken by the University of California, Berkeley and The Field Poll. The poll was conducted with 898 California registered voters February 28th -March 14th.

Written by tina.falco@mlode.com