Support for ending harmful term limits is building

Another brief state government shutdown has illustrated what a disaster term limits are, and a recent survey proves people are fed up with the 14-year experiment.

The latest results from Michigan State University’s State of the State Survey - conducted by the Office for Survey Research in the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) - showed about 61 percent of Michigan residents favored lifting the 14-year lifetime limit on state House and Senate terms to allow politicians to seek office again after a four-year break in service.

The quarterly telephone survey interviewed 1,036 Michigan adults from May 18 through June 30. On a related question, nearly 54 percent of Michigan’s residents favored another change in the state’s legislative term limits – allowing all 14 years to be served in one chamber or the other or divide the 14 years between the two.

Term limits need to be returned to the voters.

Michigan voters amended the Constitution in 1992 to restrict state House members to three, two-year full terms and Senate members to two, four-year full terms for about 14 years. Previous to 1992, there were no limits on the number of House or Senate terms served.

“There are chinks in the armor of term limits,” said Charles Ballard, a respected Michigan State University professor of economics and survey director.

Respected academics and pundits, such as Wayne State University Professor Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, have advocated for returning term limit power to the voters for years. Term limits has led lawmakers to worry more about their next office than good government, empowered lobbyists and given leadership posts to freshman lawmakers.

The massive cuts in the current budget can be blamed on the fact that many in the state Legislatures are more worried about building a record to run for statewide office than good government.

Sarbaugh-Thompson said term limits have not accomplished anything its backers claimed it would accomplish when it was sold to Michigan voters back in 1992.

The survey also found that 82 percent of the latest survey respondents said they favored state legislative districts drawn by an independent, nonpartisan commission instead of by the party that controls the House and Senate. The commission would be charged with drawing the lines to make elections as competitive as possible and without favoring one party or the other. Republicans gerrymandered the districts so badly that even though more people voted for Democrats in the 2006 Senate races, Republicans managed to steal a 21-17 seat advantage.

“The support for an end to gerrymandering is really overwhelming, and among all groups, including Democrats and Republicans,” Ballard said.

The Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR), a nonpartisan public policy network at MSU dedicated to connecting legislators, scholars and practitioners through survey, evaluation and applied research, policy forums and political leadership briefings.

Michiganders rejecting false tea party rhetoric and the GOP

For all of the Republican’s false tea parties, socialist bull and anti-government rhetoric, it is having zero effect, and Michigan residents are displaying an increase in public trust of government at all levels over the past year.

The annual State of the State Survey, conducted by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, showed high approval ratings for President Barack Obama. The survey has been conduced fur times a years since 1994, and the last survey was conduced from January to March 25 and surveyed 1,000 Michigan adults.

In fact, 70.7 percent rated President Obama as “Excellent” or” Good.” This is the highest since 2002. That is in sharp contrast to last year’s survey when only 13.7 percent rated former President Bush as “Excellent” or “Good in the fall of 2008,” an all-time low.

Clearly, Obama’s popularity and leadership have inspired confidence in government, but it has also helped Gov. Jennifer’s Granholm’s rating. The survey also showed a slight boost in her public approval rating, despite the Republicans trying to blame her for the Bush recession and every ill the country has suffered because of Bush’s disastrous policies.

Her ratings are obviously low, and Obama’s leadership showed that for the first time in the history of the survey, more people trusted the federal government than they did state government. Generally, people most trust the government that is closest to them because government is their friends, neighbors and relatives.

But the most positive sign for Michigan is that more than 40 percent of those polled identified themselves as Democrats while fewer than 20 percent identified themselves as Republicans.

The gloomy economy in Michigan was a major issue in the survey, and almost 70 percent said they were worse off now than they were a year ago. However, almost half believe they will be better of in a year from now.

The Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) is a nonpartisan public policy network at MSU dedicated to connecting legislators, scholars and practitioners through survey, evaluation and applied research, policy forums and political leadership briefings.