A new poll finds American voters split nearly evenly on whether shutting down the federal government to force spending cuts is a good thing or a bad thing.

The findings of the new Quinnipiac University poll, just released, includes what nearly 2,000 people think about government shutdowns — and public-sector labor unions.

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, says voters surveyed are pretty  much split down the middle when it comes to public opinion on a federal government shutdown.

“Forty-seven percent of the registered voters say if Congress and the president can’t agree on spending controls, then shutting down the government would be a good thing.  Forty-five percent say it would be a bad thing.  That is virtually a statistical tie,” Brown told KYW Newsradio today.

Brown says voters were also asked if they supported the idea of limiting collective bargaining in cases where states had big budget problems.  Forty-five percent said yes; 42 percent said no.

The Quinnipiac poll also found that there is fairly strong agreement about how much public employees are paid. Forty-two percent said that, in general, public employees are paid too much, 15 percent said public employees are paid too little, and 35 percent said public employees are paid about right.

Reported by John McDevitt, KYW Newsradio 1060.