W Post: Did Scott Walker bow out because people don’t hate unions as much as he thought?

[Omaha Steve]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a one-time Iowa front-runner in the Republican presidential race, announced Monday that he is ending his bid for the White House. (Photo by Andy Manis/Getty Images)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/22/did-scott-walker-bow-out-because-people-dont-hate-unions-as-much-as-he-thought/

By Lydia DePillis September 22 at 7:30 AM

In this Survivor season of a Republican primary campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Monday became the second contender to depart the presidential island.

Much has been written about the flubs and funding problems that took him from putative frontrunner to sharkbait in the span of weeks. They were certainly sufficient to tank a campaign, and perhaps they do tell us a lot about Scott Walker, the politician. But what does his short-lived run tell us about viewers — the American electorate?

Here's one lesson that one might draw: That Walker's signature policy accomplishment — fighting unions — didn't resonate as much with Republican primary voters as it had with the conservative intelligentsia and Wisconsinites who voted him back in twice after he crushed government workers' ability to collectively bargain.

Walker did double down on that message, coming out with a plan last week describing how he would cripple the power of organized labor across the country just as he had in his home state. He even said that his triumph over teachers and government bureaucrats equipped him to take on the Islamic State. Whether that bolstered his foreign policy credentials is debatable, but the strategy ran counter to new polling that showed rising support for unions, even among Republicans, fully half of whom approve of them.

FULL story at link.