June 28, 2007 06:33 PM UTC

"Right to Work" Dead in the Water?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday’s news that an Aurora City Councilman is trying to get a “Right to Work” measure on the 2008 ballot brought up questions about whether such a move would be successful if taken to a public vote.

RBI Strategy & Research recently polled on the “Right to Work” issue, and while the slogan itself does well with voters, a ballot measure does not. Only 36% of respondents would support a “Right to Work” measure, while 56% oppose it:

Without including the words “Right to Work” in the ballot title or language, there is little support among Colorado voters for this potential initiative. Predictably, the opposition to the initiative is strong among Democrats (65% are against). However, even a majority of unaffiliated voters oppose the measure.

Conclusion
While it is very early to be talking about a ballot initiative with likely voters, these results indicate that the language proponents use in describing the measure is popular, but voters show little support for the actual policy behind the language.

That lack of support for the content of the initiative indicates that it faces an uphill battle. Most ballot proposals need a 55%-60% level of support in initial ballot language tests to be considered viable. Proponents of this initiative have a long way to go to convince Colorado voters to change the way labor unions and their members negotiate in this state.