LAT: Voters Dislike 3 of Schwarzenegger's Ballot Measures

[DeepModem Mom]

THE TIMES POLL
Voters Dislike 3 of Governor's Ballot Measures
His initiatives on state spending, redistricting and unions are all in trouble, reflective of his declining popularity. A tenure issue is a tossup.

By Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writer


Californians likely to vote in the special election Tuesday oppose three of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot measures, but Proposition 74, his plan to roll back teacher tenure, remains a tossup, according to a Los Angeles Times poll.

By and large, the survey found the public siding with organized labor and its Democratic allies in their clash with the Republican governor. Only about a third of likely voters favor Proposition 76, his flagship proposal to curb state spending, and Proposition 77, his plan to give retired judges the job of drawing district maps for lawmakers.

Also in trouble is Proposition 75, Schwarzenegger's plan to require public-worker unions to get written consent from members each year before spending dues on political campaigns: 40% are for it, and 51% against it.

Beyond the ballot contests, the poll confirmed a steep dive in Schwarzenegger's popularity. His 69% job approval rating a year ago has plummeted to 40%. He remains popular with Republicans, but his support among Democrats has all but collapsed.

Like President Bush, another Republican with scant support beyond his party base, Schwarzenegger has polarized Californians, the poll found, with voters split starkly along party and ideological lines. Across the voter spectrum, his ratings are roughly in sync with Bush's....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll2nov02,0,639348,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[rpannier]

1. I think all four of his initiatives suck

But I'd be more inclined to vote for Prop 75 than Prop 74. If 74 passes they may lose a lot of teachers who can make better pay in other states and not have to BS with the five-year tenure crap.

[olddad56]

16. HIs initiatives are designed to circumvent the democratic process.

Vote no on all propositions in any election.

[seriousstan]

2. What is the problem with Prop 77? Why do we want state lawmakers

drawing these boundries?

[Lexingtonian]

3. Why do we want retired state judges

-who these days are nearly all Republicans, b/c it used to be a Republican state- gerrymandering California against Democrats?

[Sandpiper]

6. Not to mention, the majority of retired judges are old white men

Hardly representative of a State where non-hispanic whites account for only 45% of the total population.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. It's not the current state of affairs but the proposed solution that is at

issue.

I might agree that my vision is not very good, but I wouldn't assent to my eyes being pulled out as a solution, yeah?

[Sandpiper]

5. You'd rather leave it to 3 unelected judges

Who are political appointees themselves?

[Patchuli]

7. What we don't want, is 77 having a

panel of 3 retired judges deciding what district is what! You can't have a 'bi-partisan' panel with 3 people. I like the legislation to decide it and Arnold needs to stop trying to Tom Delay-Texasize us! California will NEVER be red! eewwwuuu!

[mitchtv]

9. It gives a minority party(R) parity

since when does that happen? I don't want to live in GOP land or texas for that matter. They are a minority party,They do not deserve equal representation. Unilateral disarmament. let them redistrict Texas not CA

[seriousstan]

10. THE REASON I ASKED.... live in Ohio, we have a proposal very similar

on the ballot next Tuesday. It is backed HEAVILY by the Dems as a way to make more competitive races.

Why is it a good thing here and not there. I see nothing but hypocrisy. Every argument I have read here sounds exactly as the ones being used by the Reps in Ohio.

I was behind the proposal in Ohio but now I am thinking it is just business as usual.

What am I missing?

[Mountainman]

13. Your not missing anything. We don't want repukes running this state

You sound like you think the prop 77 would be more fair and we don't even care. We are in control and don't want to give it up. I don't want repukes making laws here to force intelligent design, flat tax, prayer in school, gays back in the closet, making abortion illegal.

Comprende?

[Tiggeroshii]

14. What we dont want is absolutely ANY possibility our seats can be lost

NONE, despite the fact the Democratic controlled congress is at a 22% approval rating, and despite the fact most people want dsitrict lines drawn by an independent panel. There's no better reason to vote for 77 than there is to vote for the Ohio redistricting. In the short run, they're both efforts to gain control of state and national congress by parties, but in the long run, they both do something very important: take away the power of redistricting from the legislature. This has needed to be done for a VERY long time in california!

so far there's little more than a dozen states who DON'T have independent panels drawing the lines and our is one of them...

[mitchtv]

15. My guess is OH is undoing Gop gerymandering

The districts here were agreed to by Pugs also. (they weren't threatened either). I think we should do a TX and redistrict them out of office, fair ? Winning is important we can afford to lose NO more seats. No Democrat with a brain supports this.

[katty]

11. Prop 77 do to CA what TX rethugs did to TX redistricting-not

gonna happen here. Mrs. Terminator is hiding out through all of this and she had a mini-stroke the other day.

[Mountainman]

12. Because we don't want to turn the state over to Republicans

That's the only way they can take over California like they took over the country.

You might ask Tom Delay why he wanted Texas to redistrict. The answer is the same only 180 degrees out of phase.

[WhiteTara]

17. because they represent us

and it is done once every 10 years based on the census of demographics.

[Democat]

18. Arnold wants paid off judges to gerrymander California

Do not believe anything the Republican party says about that initiative. It is a way for them to try to take over the state.

[Initech]

8. Look at the big picture here.

I'm scared about these measures. The redistricting one is especially frightening - it's heavily worded so no one without a law degree can understand it, just like the patriot act. If any of these measures pass, California will become a red state just in time for the 2006 senate elections.