The latest Field Poll has found a striking shift in the views of California and Bay Area voters toward unions, including public-employee unions.
The findings indicate 45 percent of Californians now say that unions do more harm than good, compared to 40 percent who say they do more good than harm. As recently as March 2011, according to the Field Poll, 46 percent believed that unions did more good than harm, with only 35 percent believing they did more harm than good.
The findings are notable in a state that generally has had a pro-union history and is currently dominated politically by the Democratic party, which is closely affiliated with the unions.
Bay Area voters, who endured two disruptive BART strikes in 2013 and narrowly averted a third, are now more opposed to public-employee unions having the right to strike than voters in the rest of the state.
Statewide, a narrow majority (47 to 44 percent) continues to support the right of public union workers, like those employed by BART, to strike. But in the wake of the BART strikes, by a 52 to 41 percent margin, Bay Area voters say they oppose allowing public transit workers the right to strike.