* It’s easy to believe that the “conventional wisdom” about the Chicago Teachers Union expressed through the mainstream media (and here) accurately reflects the prevailing thought in the city.

But when you pit the CTU against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicagoans have been picking the union’s side for years. It’s a very big reason why Mayor Daley tried to avoid confrontations with the teachers. It’s why Emanuel “lost” the teachers strike. It’s also something that Gov. Rauner has never really understood, going back decades.

Tribune…

Three times as many Chicagoans side with the teachers union as with Mayor Rahm Emanuel on how to improve public schools at a time when the two sides remain locked in contentious contract negotiations, a Chicago Tribune poll has found.

* Graphic…

That’s pretty close to the same result as previous polls in 2013 and 2014.

* Deeper…

In households with CPS students, 73 percent supported the teachers union while 14 percent backed Emanuel. In homes without CPS students, 57 percent sided with the CTU compared with 22 percent with Emanuel. […]

The poll also found that support for the teachers union declined the higher the income of the poll respondent. Teachers received support from 70 percent of those who made less than $50,000, but that support dropped to 50 percent among those with incomes over $100,000. Still, only 29 percent of those with the higher incomes supported Emanuel. […]

A higher percentage of white voters backed Emanuel, 35 percent, but more of them still sided with the teachers union, 42 percent. Among Hispanics, 66 percent favored the teachers union and 13 percent supported Emanuel.

Go read the whole thing for more results.

       

28 Comments - Honeybear - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:04 am: At least someone seems to get public support. - RNUG - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:07 am: ‘Your’ teachers / schools and ‘your’ representatives always get high voter support. If you don’t understand that basic fact, you shouldn’t be in politics. - Politix - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:10 am: I’ve mentioned it before but it’s been my suspicion that public support for unions today has been greatly underestimated. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:11 am: ===It’s also something that Gov. Rauner has never really understood, going back decades.=== There are innumerable topics you could say that about. LOL. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:11 am: Come the month of May, will the public support CTU over Hizzoner in a strike? That lightning was already caught in a bottle last time(?) That’s the gamble. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:14 am: Odds are, and history has shown CTU, when picking their spots and using the threat effectively, CTU has cultivated the better image to voters. Going back-to-back strikes? As soon as May? Still a gamble - Dome Gnome - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:20 am: This is precisely why U.S. teachers have had a target on their backs ever since wealthy interest embraced austerity as a national campaign. Public support makes dissolving teaching as a unionized profession a very tough nut to crack. Watch for the collateral attacks on university teacher prep programs and the proliferation of privatized charter schools and testing companies. It’s all connected. - Cassandra - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:22 am: I think one illuminating question might be, Would you support a tax increase on (insert type of tax here)to meet the CTU contract demands, and shore up teacher pensions. Talk is cheap. If Chicagoans are willing to support another property tax hike-or some other type of tax- to demonstrate their support for the teachers, what’s stopping them. What’s stopping Mayor Rahm and the CC from raising the needed revenue in Chicago. Suburban and municipal districts are always putting forth such referenda and many of them pass. - Spliff - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:23 am: Wonder what those same people think of a CPS takeover by the state? - RNUG - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:29 am: Local voters ALWAYS oppose non-local control of schools. Don’t believe that? Just try to close or consolidate one … - TD - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:31 am: The poll is interesting, although hardly surprising, but it doesn’t address that the money for CPS has to come from somewhere. You could also poll Rahm against a sack of potatoes today and the sack would handily win. If there is a strike, the real battle will be in convincing the voters its not a zero sum game between CTU and the taxpayers. - From the 'Dale to HP - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:37 am: Rahm and CPS have gone negative on the CTU for years, and it hasn’t moved the needle at all. It *might* be time to change the strategy. - Amalia - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:49 am: perhaps teachers will always be popular because they just love Susie and Johnnie, who love them back. until the fiscal impact of the imbalances of the funding system are made more real to the average citizen, the situation will be obfuscated by emotion on all sides. - wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:54 am: Chicagoans actually have children in the public schools. They have contact with the public schools. They have informed opinions, and don’t view their teachers as some sort of sinister political force to be defeated at all costs. - Joe M - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:04 am: Republicans are against big government and for local control - except when it fits their anti-union vision and agenda to have big government take away local control. Its seemed that without the Gov’s takeover talk there was a strong possibility of a CTU strike. If the Gov were to succeed in taking over CPS, that would probably assure a long strike. Who will the Gov have teach the classes then? The National Guard? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:12 am: ===Chicagoans actually have children in the public schools. They have contact with the public schools.=== Bruce Rauner, of Winnetka, clouted his denied, Winnetka-living daughter into a Chicago school, over a child living in Chicago, and still Rauner sees little value in the teachers he made sure taught his unqualified, denied daughter. The Payton Prep clouting, everything before and since IS… … the real Bruce Rauner… avd how he sees using his wife as a shield, his entitlement, phoniness, the use of Labor for his ends, then turning on them when he’s done… and thinking he deserves, and others don’t. - Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:18 am: I have seen what CPS teachers do for their kids–even outside of the classroom, they buy coats, books, and shoes for kids. They give up large amounts of time when they’re not “on the clock”. Parents see this and when they’re painted as greedy, those closest to the situation can’t see it. Yesterday, CPS sent out a very negative anti-teacher letter to the parents about the contract situation. My wife surprised me by telling me she passed it out. If it had been me, it would have gone straight in the garbage. Her reasoning was, “it helps let parents know we’re under attack. It’s not like they won’t see through all of the attacks.” - Century Club - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:48 am: Although some of the ideological partisans don’t see it, CTU has been adept at fighting for the resources that parents want in their schools: art, music, libraries, social workers, books, repairs, etc. Now, CPS announces 1,000 layoffs? Of course Chicagoans side with the teachers. - WhoKnew - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 12:29 pm: Why is the 7% slice of the Pie bigger that the 12% slice? Is that a Chicago thing? - Cook County Commoner - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:22 pm: The CTU has its membership in front of the kids each day. This membership regularly interacts with parents. The number of CTU members, their dependents and Chicago school children and their parents and guardians is huge. Add in members of other public sector unions and you have a political powerhouse at the polls. I can’t see this resolved politically. The only real issue seems to be when the bond buyers withdraw the teat. - ctu member - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:46 pm: I think many people would be OK with a slight raise in property tax and almost everyone wishes that the mayor dedicated more TIF surplus funds as opposed to borrowing at a crazy high interest rate. Truth is that educators in Chicago have very large classrooms with limited resources and high expectations. We burn out quicker than in other districts. The rejected offer involved a reduction in teachers and assistants which would ensure even larger, less supported classrooms. Maybe if our leaders had children in the system they would see things differently. - The Man on 6 - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:49 pm: ==Why is the 7% slice of the Pie bigger that the 12% slice?== Ditto. This is especially important because that’s a critical percentage of Chicagoans who are disgusted with CTU’s consistently arrogant and tone-deaf behavior but who also cannot stomach the Mayor’s “Rauner-lite” approach to fixing the many problems faced by CPS. A mayoral candidate who openly favors an elected school board but who also refuses to bow down to the union’s every whim would win these voters in a heartbeat, and could probably poach enough support from the other groups to be a serious contender against Rahm. Just something to think about. - Tone - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 3:19 pm: “- ctu member - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:46 pm: I think many people would be OK with a slight raise in property tax and almost everyone wishes that the mayor dedicated more TIF surplus funds as opposed to borrowing at a crazy high interest rate. Truth is that educators in Chicago have very large classrooms with limited resources and high expectations. We burn out quicker than in other districts. The rejected offer involved a reduction in teachers and assistants which would ensure even larger, less supported classrooms. Maybe if our leaders had children in the system they would see things differently.” How much more than $15,000/student do we need to spend? - Kyle Hillman - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 3:45 pm: I am more surprised in the non-CPS parent support for the Union - that section usually breaks off. What a lot of people don’t understand is that parents have a bond with teachers of their kids. Media Op-Eds don’t work against emotional responses based on real interactions. When you see your kids’ teacher working harder with fewer resources. When programs you valued are being cut… Elected officials will always lose that battle. Every. Time. - Molly Maguire - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 3:53 pm: I do not believe there will be a strike; there is too much to lose for both Rahm and CTU. They have other battles, such as Rauner, property taxes, saving CPS, bond issues, etc. Rahm and Claypool clearly want an agreement; so does Lewis. She just needs time to bring her militant wing back to reality. Rahm and Lewis and CTU need each other to save CPS. Teachers I have spoken with know that there is no money there, and holding serve is the best they can do. There will be an agreement pretty close to the terms you have seen, and well before a strike is close. - Carhartt Representative - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 4:00 pm: =How much more than $15,000/student do we need to spend?= And there’s the rub. CPS does spend way too much for students. The main three contributors are skyrocketing costs for charters, unfunded pension liabilities resulting from not making a payment for 10 years, and interest payments. The cost of teachers is about the same as it was in 2005 and less than it was in 2011. There’s also all the politically connected contacts. Barbara Byrd-Bennett was just the tip of the iceberg. Teachers have a hard time believing that if they give back even more than the $2 billion they have over the last 5 years, that CPS will just waste it on things that don’t really help the students. - Anonymous - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 4:44 pm: The taxes collected for CPS schools should come from the CPS not from Cook County. The bill should include a list of school and enrollment levels vs. capacity. - burbanite - Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 6:37 pm: Cassandra 11:22 I think you hit the nail on the head, Chicago residential taxes are substantially lower than the burbs. The money isn’t there, if you want to support CTU here, open up your checkbook. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.