Opinion: A cloud over the land of milk and honey
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A new Public Policy Institute of California poll finds that we’re a rather dour lot these days. Our optimism about the economy has been dampened by the housing and credit crunch, which has splashed over onto our faith in political leaders. The full report is available at the PPIC’s web site, and also here: Download ppic_poll_report.pdf
Among the key findings: In June, 49% of Californians expected bad economic times in the coming year, which was up from 39% in January. But here at the end of summer, after the meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market, 59% of respondents expect bad financial days ahead.
‘There has been a significant shift in attitude this year -- and it is very likely being driven by bad news about the stock and housing markets,’ PPIC president and CEO Mark Baldassare said in a prepared statement. ‘For so many people, the feeling of overall financial well-being is tied to the value of their homes -- something that seems increasingly threatened as they see sales slow, prices dip, and foreclosures rise.’
And naturally, uncertainty in the personal financial lives of people affects their political perspective. Half of those polled said the state was headed in the wrong direction, compared to 37% in January. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings are down to 50%, off 8 percentage points from January. And the state Legislature had even lower approval marks -- no surprise there - with 34% saying they like the way the Legislature has done it’s job, and even fewer ...
respondents -- 25% -- gave good marks for how the budget was handled.
The approval numbers for Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were down too. According to the report’s release: ‘Feinstein’s approval among likely voters is down seven points since March and stands at 52%. This mirrors the 7-point drop in support for Sen. Barbara Boxer among likely voters (53% in March to 46% today). In fact, disapproval of Congress as a whole has risen significantly across political parties since January (53% to 69%, Republicans; 49% to 64%, independents; 40% to 53%, Democrats).’ President Bush? ‘At the six-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the president’s overall approval has dropped a stunning 52 points, from 79% in December 2001 to 27% today.’
What’s interesting is the party differences in the belief that California’s state government is run by special interests. There is no difference, to speak of, among Democrats (73%), Republicans and Independents (both at 70%). ‘Moreover, more than half of all residents and likely voters (53% each) say the state wastes a lot of taxpayer money.’
Faith in the feds was even lower, with 75% of all residents and 81% of likely voters saying they trust the U.S. government to do what’s right only some or none of the time. Democrats, oddly enough, were more cynical at 79% than Republicans, at 65%. Independents were in line with the Dems at 78%.
- Scott Martelle
