Poll: 2 0f 3 Want to Privatize PA Liquor Stores

Governor-elect Tom Corbett is riding a wave of public support into office, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
Nearly six in ten respondents are optimistic about Corbett taking charge of Pennsylvania’s government.
Assistant polling director Peter Brown says the support is bipartisan.

"Even Democrats on this question, I believe are 45-40 in giving Corbett the benefit of the doubt. Obviously the numbers are much larger among Republicans and independents. But there’s a tendency to want to give your leaders the opportunity to succeed."

66 percent of respondents favor selling off state-owned liquor stores to help balance the budget, though union officials say the poll’s question is flawed, because it doesn’t mention the fact Pennsylvania would lose hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue by privatizing the stores.
Brown says more than half of respondents want to see more state workers laid off to trim costs.

"Government workers are not all that popular these days. I don’t know if you noticed, but a lot of politicians are criticizing – not necessarily in Pennsylvania – both on the federal level and in a number of states, people looking to cut budgets are looking squarely at public employees and questioning the size of their compensation packages."

Hundreds of state employees lost their jobs during the last two budget cycles.
A slim majority supports laying off state workers to bring government cost down, but 52 percent of those polled say they don’t want to see lawmakers lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private company.
Given a choice among all of those options, as well as raising taxes, the poll shows respondents make privatizing liquor stores their top choice to generate new revenue.