As thousands of Oklahomans deal firsthand with unemployment, and the state government deals with a multimillion-dollar budget hole, Oklahomans believe very strongly that government workers should also participate in the recession.

A scientific telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters registered in Oklahoma was conducted February 25 through March 8, 2010 by SoonerPoll, the same firm that conducts the "Oklahoma Poll" for the Tulsa World. The poll, which was commissioned by OCPA, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

"In order to deal with the budget crunch at the Oklahoma state capitol, a proposal has been made to reduce the number of state government employees by 10 percent. Would you support or oppose this proposal?"

Support ... 67.0 percent
Oppose ... 25.5 percent
Don't Know/Refused ... 7.5 percent
Now obviously cold-hearted Republicans (76 percent support, 16 percent oppose) would relish the idea of terminating several thousand bureaucrats. But get this: by nearly a two-to-one margin, Oklahoma Democrats favor the idea (61 to 32). Ouch.

I guess it's no surprise that evangelical Christians wouldn't mind rendering unto fewer Caesars (70 percent support, 22 percent oppose). But even the pagans want to slash bureaucratic overhead! (A full 62 percent of those who never attend religious services favor the idea, while 31 percent oppose.)

Support is also high among Oklahomans who describe themselves as very conservative (77 to 16), somewhat conservative (67 to 19), and moderate (63 to 33). But even the "somewhat liberal" favor the idea by a margin of 61 to 33! And -- oh the indignity -- even the "very liberal" among us, by a margin of 48 to 46, would say to several thousand public employees: You're fired.