* From the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute…

Attached you will find a summary report of all our polls over the past 9 years. “The Climate of Opinion in Illinois 2008-2016: Roots of Gridlock” charts the ebb and flow of opinion on a variety of issues.

As the state budget stalemate continues, the report and the graphics may prove to be a useful resource in your coverage of budget and other issues facing the state.

In the narrative and conclusion, the authors of the report say voters themselves “bear significant responsibility” for some of the stalemate. Many voters do that by supporting spending programs and opposing cuts to programs while opposing revenue increases.

You can read the entire report by clicking here.

* Mark Brown…

Some of the political scientists at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute have a theory about the roots of the current gridlock in Illinois government. […]

“Our data support the argument that the voters themselves bear significant responsibility for the current debt crisis and gridlocked government,” states the report authored by John Jackson, Charles Leonard and Shiloh Deitz.

“Not only did they elect the leaders responsible for this state of affairs, but their steadfast insistence on the untenable high-service/low-tax status quo gave the politicians permission to drive the vehicle of state to the edge of the cliff, where it teeters today on the brink.” […]

Jackson agreed with my own thesis to explain why voters don’t see a disconnect between their opposition to cutting services at the same time they’re opposed to raising taxes.

It’s because they also believe government is so corrupt that we wouldn’t need to pay more in taxes if we just had proper management that weeds out the waste and fraud.

Yep.

* From the report’s conclusion…

Our leadership defects and deficits are matched by—and in fact enabled by—a “followership deficit” as well. We the people must have the good sense to govern ourselves if mass democracy is going to work. If we do not live in a fact-based world—in which the voters take an interest in government and acquire basic knowledge about the issues and the candidates—then only emotion, fear, and prejudice will prevail in our elections. There is ample evidence of such motivations dominating the voting of many millions of Americans in the current election cycle.

Our data support the argument that the voters themselves bear significant responsibility for the current debt crisis and gridlocked government. Not only did they elect the leaders responsible for this state of affairs, but their steadfast insistence on the untenable high-service/low-tax status quo gave the politicians permission to drive the vehicle of state to the edge of the cliff, where it teeters today on the brink.