Schwarzenegger Approval Rating Falls To Gray Davis Recall Level

SAN FRANCISCO — A new survey by the Field Poll shows California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's public opinion rating has slumped to a new low.

Results from a survey released Sunday show that only 23 percent of people asked approved of the job the governor is doing, while 71 percent disapproved.

Poll officials say Sunday's assessment is the lowest approval rating the governor has received since he took office.

It also is statistically equivalent to the all-time record low job appraisal that voters gave to Democrat Gray Davis shortly before he was recalled from office in 2003.

The Field Poll found only 13 percent of the voters asked approved of the job the state Legislature is doing, while 78 percent disapproved.

The latest Field Poll was conducted during a telephone survey of 503 registered voters across the state.

Comments

[repuglycon]

11:49 AM on 03/23/2010

And Arnold did it with out Enron's help.

[den1953]

10:28 AM on 03/23/2010

So California are ya going to recall Arnold faster then you can say Toyota?

[Pennsanic]

12:22 PM on 03/23/2010

It's not Arnold's fault. He, like Obama, inherited a system that was essentially broke. He has introduced a lot of spending cuts (jobs, benfits, and healthcare--that should make the trolls here happy!) He has enlisted the help of very good financial and business minds.

The CA budget crisis began in 2001, when the state went into recession. There have been continuing revenue shortfalls. The state has lost about 1 million jobs. 12% unemployment. A large part of the problem is not liberal politics or illegal immigrants, as some here would have you believe, but a political system which is permanently gridlocked.

There is a growing movement to call for a constitutional convention that could redraw the way the state is governed. It could change how the state passes budgets and make the political system more open, recreating the lost middle ground. Gerrymanderingis set to take a hit. Schwarzenegger will redraw some districts to make them more competitive, breaking the stranglehold of party politics. He wants district boundaries to be drawn up by impartial judges, not politicians. It's a bold move is seen for what it is: a necessary step to change things. Paul Harris

[ca va pas non]

03:17 PM on 03/24/2010

pennsanic he could have let the money that was owed to us from Enron come in, but like a good republican he blocked it. He could have ordered that audit he promised and look into the book of utilitie companies to see where we were being gouged, but no like a good Republican he dodged it.... you want me to go on ? Whitman is running on the same platform and she will lose to Brown.

[noaxe397]

10:07 AM on 03/23/2010

And Arnold does not even have the full force of the Bush administration fighting him the way Davis did. Remember when CA had a huge budget surplus under Davis, then Bush's friend Kenny Boy Lay had Enron manipulate energy prices while FERC, dominated by Republican appointments, did nothing and energy costs increased 2500% as soon as it crossed the CA state line?

We know this because we heard the phone redcordings of Enron energy traders saying so.

Back then Davis was touted as the next Dem nominee for president and the Rove strategy, enabled by wealthy GOP congressman Issa's recall petition drive (the GOP's own "Acorn") was to get Davis out of the way.

[Franklin1776]

08:26 AM on 03/23/2010

HAHAHAHA. 8 years ago republicans wanted the law changed so that he could become president... now when you point out that a republican destroyed California, they won't even acknowledge he's a republican.

T4 due out anytime soon?

[genxlib]

07:49 AM on 03/23/2010

Not so easy as it looks, huh?

[Michael Valentine]

12:36 PM on 03/23/2010

Oh please, Meg will show that girly man Arnold how it's done. She was a CEO you know. (spit take)

[Camille21]

03:50 AM on 03/23/2010

Hey did everyone even notice that your paychecks just got smaller? State taxes went up with virtually no media coverage about 6 months ago. They went up A LOT!!! This from a governor who tortured Gray davis for putting car registration fees back to their historical levels after the dot com boom busted.

[Camille21]

03:36 AM on 03/23/2010

He's doing a "Bush." Probably somewhere clearing brush or smoking a cigar. Rarely on TV anymore. Glad cuz always had to flip the channel when he started mis-pronouncing Caleeefornia. He ran a dishonest campaign to unseat Gray and the eeejit Repubs voted him in cuz he once played in the Terminator movies. Even after it was revealed that he spent half his career groping women who worked with him.

[deanleto]

03:21 AM on 03/23/2010

well, ...... duh!

[boston61]

12:17 AM on 03/23/2010

GIRLIE MAN

[pantherburns]

11:43 PM on 03/22/2010

Does this mean the end of republican attempts to change the constitution to allow foreign born persons to run for president?

[Camille21]

03:37 AM on 03/23/2010

that'll never happen now since the "birther" movement LoL

[moose and squirrel]

10:36 PM on 03/22/2010

California, like the rest of the country, got caught flat-footed on Globalization. everyone underestimated its effect on our economy, and now we are screwed as long as no one wants to address it. with jobs shipped to mexico and asia, we have a lot of skilled workers standing idle. with a stalled green revolution, there is no emerging industry to absorb these people. we have very real prospects of impending economic serfdom.

[MarkInTexas]

10:34 PM on 03/22/2010

Guess he needs a script re-write. Oh wait. This isn't a movie... fail.

[JadedAggie]

09:11 PM on 03/22/2010

The state simply cannot be governed anymore. I don't like what Arnold has done, but I can't honestly say Davis or any democrat would have done better. Passing state legislation that is meaningful including the damn budget requires a super majority. In addition, the general public can vote budgeting restrictions anytime they want further tying the hands of both the governor and the legislature.

[TheGripester]

08:46 PM on 03/22/2010

Anyone remember Al Checchi? Jane Harman? Millionaires who both attempted to buy the California gubernatorial Democratic primary. Davis stomped them, and then his Republican opponent Dan Lundgren (by 58%). Davis was a competent administrator and he stood for something, but he was no match for the deregulation crisis which almost destroyed California. And now that we look at it with the perspective of several years, neither was Schwarzenegger.

Maybe Jerry Brown will prove himself equal to the task.

[jerryatthebeach]

08:38 PM on 03/22/2010

He'll be back, doing something....