Poll: Calif. Voters Support Caps on Public Pensions

A new poll shows a majority of Californians support capping public pensions, increasing the retirement age for state and what they pay toward their benefits, the Sacramento Bee reported Thursday.

The Field Poll results shows the majority of in Californian back Republican lawmakers’ efforts across the country to curtail public employees pay and benefits as state’s struggle to close huge budget deficits.

“Public pensions are now seen as too generous,” poll director Mark DiCamillo told the newspaper.

About 35 percent of registered voters told pollsters that they believe unions do more harm than good. Some 46 percent believe the opposite.

The poll shows that unions are losing support even among Democrats. Nearly three-quarters of voters, including 68 percent of registered Democrats, want to establish an upper limit on pension benefits. Only 20 percent disagree.

Sixty-nine percent of those polled, including two-thirds of Democrats, want state and local government workers to pay more toward their own pensions; 26 percent oppose the idea.

""I don't think government workers should be able to have a union," Fred Marsu, an 81-year-old Republican who lives in Red Bluff, told the newspaper. “They're working for you and me. Why do they have a union? To demand benefits and high pay. It's ridiculous.""