(CA) Voters disgusted with governor, Legislature

[struggle4progress]

Source: SF Chronicle

Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

California voters have never thought less of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature, according to a Field Poll to be released today ...

Only 27 percent of poll respondents approve of Schwarzenegger's job performance. That's the lowest approval rating for any California governor in 50 years - except for the 22 percent approval rating the Field Poll delivered in 2003 to then-Gov. Gray Davis, the man Schwarzenegger replaced six years ago in a statewide recall election.

"He has come full circle," O'Connor said. "Familiarity breeds contempt in all sorts of relationships. And you can only use the same one-liners for so long without giving voters any deliverables" ...

Schwarzenegger's disapproval rating - 65 percent - was also the highest of his six-year term in office. The negative feelings toward the governor were consistent across demographic and geographic lines across the state ...

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/13/BAOD1A4MFV.DTL&tsp=1

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Calif voters sour on Schwarzenegger performance

(AP) ... The results were based on a telephone survey of 1,005 voters conducted Sept. 18 to Oct. 5. The survey has a margin of sampling error of 3.2 percentage points ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gAAveT5Yy3W0gPfCsQCigIsm5QbQD9BA80V80

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Governance by one-liners.

:argh:

[Mz Pip]

2. This has been a long time coming

Arnold just happened to be the one in the Governor's Mansion when the shit really hit the fan. He hasn't done much to improve the situation.

The voters of CA did this - put an action figure in charge. Arnold had no political experience at all. None, zip, zilch. But we like our flash here. Davis' Recall during the Enron mess was financed by wannabe governor Darryl Issa. He thought he could buy himself the governorship.

Though I doubt anything will change here in CA, regardless of who is Governor, until the 2/3 majority needed to pass a budget gets changed.

[paulsby]

4. they hate the legislature WORSE than arnold

which is being glossed over thus far

"Voters loathe the Legislature even more than the governor, according to the Field Poll of 1,005 registered voters between Sept. 18 and Oct. 5.

Just 13 percent gave lawmakers a thumbs-up, the lowest mark since the 14 percent approval rating the Legislature received in April - the last time the Field pollsters asked. It is the lowest rating in the 25 years that the Field Poll has been charting voter attitudes toward the Legislature.

"It's brutal," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. " 'How low can we go?' is an open question. Voters don't think we've bottomed out yet."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/13/BAOD1A4MFV.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0TpZI3IO8"

[Warpy]

6. Good, they need to

From what I've seen from two states away, the California lege is about like the Florida lege, heavily dominated by Republicans and conservative Democrats. Maybe people are finally waking up to the fact that conservatives are not their friends no matter which party they claim.

Maybe they're wising up to that "fiscal conservative" nonsense that generally means lower taxes on the wealthy and higher taxes and licensing fees on everybody else along with a government that is fiscally hamstrung and prevented from offering the services it needs to provide.

If this translates into voting out all the conservative dead wood, then California has a chance of coming back. If not, it doesn't and will become the biggest third world economy in the world.

[slackmaster]

9. The CA legislature is 2/3 Democrats most of whom are liberal

The Republicans tend to be very conservative. The split is the result of decades of gerrymandering "safe" districts for incumbents.

This in a state where Democrats account for less than half of the registered voters.

That may change in the 2012 election. In 2008 we voted in a new system for drawing district boundaries. We have a chance to fix the problem, but no guarantee that anything will change.

[madmusic]

12. But the majority of voters lean Democratic

For starters, the rise of independent registration has not been accompanied by the surfacing of any independent political movement. Setting aside the Superintendent of Public Instruction (a nominally non-partisan office) no one has been elected to a statewide office without partisan identification. Beyond that, independents have sided with Democrats most of the time.

– Democrats have won the state in five of the eight presidential elections since 1978 and have made a clean sweep since 1992, when the move towards independent voters started gaining steam. (And no candidate who opposes abortion rights, on which independents have moved left, has won at the top of the ticket, i.e. for president, governor or senator, since George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis here in 1988.)

– Democrats have dominated every single Legislative session except for the anamolus “Contract with America” election of 1994, when Republicans briefly held a majority.

– Democrats have controlled most of the statewide constitutional offices in the last 30 years, buoyed by independent backing.

snip

The problem with confusing independent voter registration with independent voting behavior is that it leads to the kind of thinking Schwarzenegger’s former communications director engaged in when he told the SF Chronicle in 2008: “John McCain will give a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama a serious run in any purple state like California.”

Calbuzz sez: Purple staters can argue that ’til they’re blue in the face, but they’ll still end up red-faced with embarrassment.

http://www.calbuzz.com/category/california-democratic-party/

So as you say, the new district boundaries may be the death knell for the Just Say No party.

[JDPriestly]

13. This state is heavily Democratic.

The biggest cities, Los Angeles and the San Francisco area are among the most Democratic in the nation. The legislature is heavily Democratic. Our two senators are both Democrats, both elected by huge margins. What do you mean by "This in a state where Democrats account for less than half of the registered voters." Even if that is true, it does not reflect the political hue of the state which is staunchly liberal.

[slackmaster]

16. Link to historical voter registration statistics for California

What do you mean by "This in a state where Democrats account for less than half of the registered voters."

I mean just that.

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/15day-stwdsp-09/hist-reg-stats.pdf

Even if that is true, it does not reflect the political hue of the state which is staunchly liberal.

The state has a liberal majority, but that is not the whole picture by any means. How could a "staunchly liberal" state pass Proposition 8?

[JDPriestly]

19. The pro-gay marriage side did not debunk the lies of the pro-Prop 8

side at all effectively. The pro-gay marriage side did a really bad job dealing with the pseudo-legal issues.

[paulsby]

17. and again, in a dem state, with a mostly dem legislature

they have the legislature, which is predominantly dem MORE than the governator , who is repub.

that's my point. the OP was saying how much this said about cali rejecting conservatism ,etc. not really. one) arnold is not by any stretch a conservative. two) they are rejecting the legislature who are anything but conservative.

it sounds to me like it has little to do with ideology and everything to do with performance.

[JDPriestly]

18. The poll questions are poorly worded. The question is not what you

think of the legislature. That is irrelevant. The question is what do you think of your own representative -- senator or assemblyman? That is because most people like their own assemblyman (or woman) or senator. It's the rest of the legislature they don't like. That is meaningless since we each only vote for our own representative, assemblyman (woman) or senator.

[paulsby]

21. it;s not meaningless

you are excluding the middle.

it might be more informative to know waht somebody think sof THEIR rep., but the fact that the california populace as a whole utterly scorns the california legisature IS meaningful.

[99 Percent Sure]

14. Like former CA Gov. Reagan, that guy

They elected in the recall has done everlasting damage to our state. . .

As has the state's archaic constitution. . .

As has the lousy Assembly on both sides of the aisle.

Since the Depression Recession hit our state around 2006, the state that boasted an economy rated #6 in the world has dropped to #8. We're sinking like stones in the ocean, while the aforementioned pols fritter away their time bickering and living large.

These are people who for months paid state bills with IOUs because they couldn't agree on a budget, then approved a budget that stll leaves a huge deficit while cutting essential services, and laying off and furloughing state workers. Topping all that off is the fact that the job market is virtually nonexistent, along with the fact that to make up for the budget shortfall, they are taking revenue collected by counties and municipalities.

It's a mess out here.

Just wanted to add that what few state services we have left are absolutely lousy, especially EDD and do not serve the people at all.

[yurbud]

20. most probably don't realize the legislature needs a two-thirds majority to pass a budget or

raise taxes.

Effectively giving the Republican micro-minority veto power over both, which they use with relish.

[xchrom]

3. all that money spent for the re-call and to get him in office.

i live in cali -- and LOVE it here -- but cali voters are getting what they asked for.

what did they expect from an enron supporter anyway?

[Lebam in LA]

8. I couldn't agree more

and I remind my right-wing family every chance I get. They practically went orgasmic when they all received "calls" from the idiot. I warned them that recalling Davis was an idiotic idea, but they wouldn't listen, as most of our state. I love California but there are some really stupid people here.

And then Arnie, the terminator was in charge and would save the day.

They still cannot admit they were wrong.

[slackmaster]

5. Governator and the Legislature both suck - K&R!!!

:nuke:

[tomm2thumbs]

7. ironically he was swept in on a recall and now the recallers got what they deserved - idiot in chief

maybe they'll think good and hard next time about doing a stupid stunt like that - backfired right in their faces

[hgovernick]

10. Former Governor Gray Davis

might be laughing his head off right now, if he weren't such a decent man.

[placton]

11. Cali voters need to look in the mirror

they are the ones who referenda'd themselves into this mess

[damntexdem]

15. Time for another recall campaign.

;-)