US / Wisconsin Americans Actually Like Public Unions In survey 61% favor collective bargaining By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Feb 23, 2011 9:08 AM CST Copied Supporters join a candlelight vigil in front of the state Capitol to express sympathy with union members in Wisconsin, Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Robert Durell) National Republicans might want to think twice before backing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's law cracking down on public unions. A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that a sizable majority of Americans—61%—would oppose a law limiting public unions' collective bargaining rights if it were introduced in their state. Although almost two-thirds of those polled considered their state's fiscal problems to be a crisis, respondents were divided as to whether tax hikes or spending cuts were the correct prescription. "This underlines the difficulty in solving these problems," says one Gallup pollster. "It's hard to find a consensus on what to do." (More Wisconsin stories.) Report an error