Schwarzenegger's Approval Falls To New Low Of 28 Percent In Poll
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity has sunk to a new low of 28 percent as he heads into his final months in office grasping for a legacy after a bitter budget fight, according to a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
The last time a California governor's approval rating was that low, then-Gov. Gray Davis faced a recall election and was in a budget standoff with the Legislature, the survey released Wednesday by PPIC said. Davis had a 26 percent approval rating in August 2003.
Californians also gave the state Legislature a record-low approval rating of 17 percent, after spending most of 2009 watching lawmakers grappling with record deficits and squabbling over the budget.
But politicians can't blame malaise over the weary economy for everything, said PPIC president Mark Baldassare.
"It's not just the budget deficit but the fact that the governor and Legislature together haven't been able to resolve an issue that many Californians think has just made life in our state and our economic recovery a lot more complicated than it needs to be," Baldassare said.
A record-low 14 percent of Californians believe the state is headed in the right direction.
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said several governors of large states have seen their poll numbers drop by double digits as they cope with the bad economy.
"The worldwide economic downturn has had a negative effect on poll numbers across the country," McLear said. "The governor is focused on creating jobs and turning our economy around."
Schwarzenegger this week signed a budget compromise that cut spending by nearly $16 billion to close a budget deficit the administration pegged at $26 billion.
In contrast to their discontent with Sacramento, Californians seem to believe President Barack Obama is taking action to spur an economic recovery, Baldassare said. Obama's approval rating fell about 7 points from May, but remains high at 65 percent.
The latest PPIC poll also surveyed Californians' attitudes on the environment, and found unwavering support for policies to curb global warming. But their enthusiasm for urgent action has waned along with the economy: 48 percent said the state should take action to reduce emissions right away, while 46 percent want the state to hold off until the economy and the budget improve.
"For some people, they think that we're in such difficult economic times that they have to make priorities and they have to place environmental issues behind the budget and economic issues," Baldassare said.
Two-thirds of respondents still said they support California's landmark global warming law requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, although support has dropped since last year. The decline was sharpest among Republicans.
And despite the Legislature's rejection of a plan to allow new offshore oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast, a majority said they support such drilling, although they still rate conservation and energy-efficiency measures as the most important steps toward a cleaner environment, Baldassare said.
PPIC surveyed 2,501 adults by telephone in several languages from July 7 to 21. The survey has a sampling error rate of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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JULIET WILLIAMS | 07/30/09 01:21 AM |