Poll: Californians Don’t Want Das Guber’s Special Election

In his “State of the State” speech last January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his plan to hold a special election this fall in order to “go over the heads of the politicians” and get state voters to ratify his government “reform” schemes. Since then, support for the special election has dropped 12 percentage points:

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls a special election this November, he will have to face voters angry at the prospect of yet another statewide ballot, a new poll showed today.

By a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, California adults would rather see Schwarzenegger’s government reform plan go on the ballot for the scheduled June 2006 primary election than this fall.

The governor’s crack team of message-makers has a good reason for the poor polling:

The governor’s supporters, however, argue that the poll was taken before a television ad campaign that began in early May could have much effect.

That’s right. Forget the substance – Arnold’s star power and electrifying personality can sell anything to the unsuspecting masses. Just wait and see.

Meanwhile, the level of protests at the governor’s campaign stops – er, community outreach sessions – protests are ratcheting up:

[T]housands of demonstrators converged on the Capitol and downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday for the largest protests of the Republican governor’s administration.

But as the governor’s polls drop – he has about a 40 percent approval rate – the Democratic controlled Legislature is even more unpopular. Earlier this week, as a perfect illustration of the cause of their unpopularity, the pols in Sacramento voted themselves a whopping 12 percent pay increase.

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2 thoughts on “Poll: Californians Don’t Want Das Guber’s Special Election”

  1. Time’s ripe for the next recall. I had heard that the required amount of signatures could be obtained easily by tapping into groups like CodePink and MoveOn. Make the election date concomitant with the date of his “special election”. Wanna bet that he’s drop the election idea in a Los Angeles minute?

  2. I had exactly the same thought. I thought we should have started a Recall the moment this guy was elected but I think you’re right that we could get the signatures to put it on the ballot this fall. At the time of the Davis Recall, I read through the Recall law and there is a window in time prior to the next gubernatorials during which a Recall can’t be launched. Can’t remember now what that window is but it is probably a year.

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