Davis' ratings dip to new depths: Democrats losing faith, Field Poll finds

[Freddie Stubbs]

More and more California voters want Gov. Gray Davis recalled, and even his fellow Democrats are beginning to despair over the governor's chances of holding onto his job, a Field Poll released today shows.

The survey indicates that 58 percent of likely voters favor ousting Davis in the landmark Oct. 7 recall vote, up from 51 percent a month ago. Even among Democrats, 27 percent say they'll vote to recall Davis and nearly a quarter of his fellow party members say the governor should resign.

Seventy percent of California voters disapprove of the job Davis is doing as governor, the lowest level a politician has recorded in the 56-year history of the Field Poll, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director. It matches President Richard Nixon's approval rating in August 1974, days before he resigned.

"These findings have to be very troubling for the governor," DiCamillo said.

more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/08/15/MN251071.DTL

[joeybee12]

1. Dems can't see past their own self-interests

They should have kept on message from the beginning of this farce--granted most Dem politicians in CA don't like Davis, but for the unity of the party they shoudl have backed him from Day One. Instead, they wrung their hands, started worrying, and the Rethugs smelled blood. They lost the recall months ago.

[pinerow]

2. Exactly...i was there last month and could not find a single

friend, (who are mostly on the left)who will support Davis...

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...

:mad:

[jos]

3. Davis should resign after Labor Day

As much as I believe the recall is little more than a coup, it is clear that Davis has no chance of defeating it. The party should therefore tell him either to resign or they will cut him loose and put their resources behind Bustamante.

[joeybee12]

4. I'm not even sure Bustamente could win

He trails badly after Ah-nuld in all the polls. One might hope this could be a learning experience for the Dems, but sadly that won't be the case. I don't notice anything has changed after the 2000 Florida criminal theft.

[snake1306]

6. Bustamante can win

if he focuses on the Latino vote.

He needs to come out 100% for "illegal" immigrant rights and unlimited immigration. He needs to take on the Border Patrol and the INS. This will energize all the Latino voters to vote for him.

[glgb]

15. Do you personally favor unlimited immigration?

There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who would immigrate to the USA if they could. Wouldn't it cause huge disruption for us to have unlimited immigration?

[shanti]

19. are you nuts??

perhaps you meant "legal" immigration.

[jos]

7. Arnold's peak

With all the (positive) attention he received, he's at his peak. About 1/4 are undecided, and I suspected most of them are Democrats. Bustamante should be able to rally them, and the Hispanic vote, to give him 1/3 of the vote and victory.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

17. He should be able???

He must RALLY THEM NOW, I mean N - O - W!!! Pronto!!!!!!
He must get his momentum VERY, VERY, SOON!!!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

16. Well many Dems support the recall too...

so hell with it! Does it really even matter? They are going to let Arnie Boy win it!!!

[shanti]

20. and many of us cali dems DON'T support the recall!

but we WILL support another dem for governor!

[Flubadubya]

5. Damned Republicans... again!

This just goes to show that the Republican propaganda juggernaut really works. If they had not initiated this recall, and if the media had not fed so heavily on it, I doubt very seriously that Davis' numbers would be this bad at this point in time.

Maybe Gray Davis is as bad as these polls reflect, I don't know, I don't live in California. However, I would venture to say that a very large percentage is perception alone (fomented primarily by the Rethug propaganda smear machine).

Ever wonder if Karl Rove is actually Goebels reincarnated? Hmm... I think Goebels probably died about the same time the little GOP fiend was born. :eyes:

[joeybee12]

8. Rove isn't Goebbels, he's possessed by Satan!

I'm not sure if the exorcism didn't take, or if his parents decided not to even try expelling the demon. Either way, satan now lives in his rather large underbelly.

[leesa]

9. Purely perceptions created by the right wing controlled press

Davis worked hard fighting against ken Lay's white house henchmen but how can you win when these lunatics own everything and when they have no positive ethics whatsoever.

[farmbo]

10. Shows how well Clinton's "Above the Fray" strategy is (not) working.

Gray's being eaten alive...nobody's buying this "...I'm too interested in discharging my duties to stray into the politics of the recall..." routine.

Enough already!

Call a press conference and accuse Cheney and Ken Lay of criminally conspiring to rig CA electrical prices. Throw out those nice photos of Arnold palin' around with Ken Lay...call for Lay's indictment...hell, indict him under CA consumer fraud law... and put Arnold on the defensive.

Otherwise, save the Dems the indignity of losing the first recall in CA history. Resign and start working on your golf game.

[Snellius]

11. And call for a mano a mano debate

Clinton is making a huge mistake to project his own experience onto that of Davis. Clinton had a great record as president to fall back on, but it's ludicrous for Davis to keep saying "I'm governor and they're not" when the whole point of the recall is that people don't want him to be governor. Davis should go down fighting on his own terms. David against the muscle-bound Goliath. Call him out. The bigger they are, the farther they fall.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. The problem is

that this is not aobut Arnold. It's about Davis, and the the fact that many Californians are very unhappy with his job as Governor. There are actually more Democrats on the ballot than Republicans. Attacking one of the candidates in the recall will probably not decrease the likleyhood of people voting 'yes' on the recall.

If Davis want to win this, he needs to convince the voters that he has done a good job as Governor.

[Snellius]

14. Good call but there's not enough time

"If Davis want to win this, he needs to convince the voters that he has done a good job as Governor." This is just not possible. Attitudes are already too well ingrained.

Davis can only (1) demonstrate he is not who they think he is -- that is, facing California's, and his, problems and adamantly pointing to the right (2) show that Arnold (another Bush Republican) would be far worse (3) or resign.

Everyone knows Davis is instinctively a tough street fighter. That's what won him elections, if not many friends. This business-as-usual, "acting gubernatorial" routine just makes him look more conniving and fake.

[realFedUp]

12. The only poll that counts is on election day

This recall coup is the overriding point here, not
Davis. This is Florida and Gore all over again.

Vote No on recall, Yes on Bustamente.

Don't put an intern in the governor's seat.

[mjb4]

18. fake polling is illegal in third world countries

but pumped to us everyday! It is propaganda!

[kentuck]

21. Yes or No ?

Do you want to recall a Governor that was elected by a good majority of the people of California only last November? That is the basic question that the voters will be voting on. Everything else , including Arnold, is periphereal. I cannot believe that only 22% would vote "Yes" on this question. They would like for Davis to surrender - it would make their job so much easier. Pull the wool up over your eyes.

[realFedUp]

22. 67% of Dems called say no to recalling Davis

I wouldn't get too excited by the Republican spin.

[kentuck]

23. Exactly...

And my guess would be that there is a large number of Repubs against the recall also. If he were to resign, it would change nothing...except take the "Yes" and "No" question off the ballot. That would make it easier for the Repubs, wouldn't it. That would be stupid for Davis to do such a thing. Sorry.