In the first poll after the Democratic primary, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved ahead of his challenger, Phil Angelides. According to the nonpartisan Survey and Policy Research Institute poll, Schwarzenegger leads by seven percentage points, 44 percent to 37 percent.
In his analysis of the poll, George Skelton, who covers Sacramento for the Los Angeles Times, surmises that the governor has brought conservatives home and made inroads back into the good graces of independent voters. Consummate actor that he is, Schwarzenegger has done this by portraying a different character to the public. Last year, he was the hard-ass reformer ramming his agenda down the throats of Californians for their own good. But after his reform initiatives were voted down last November, he has transformed himself into a kinder, gentler Arnold. As Skelton put it, he has gone from the Terminator to Kindergarten Cop.
It looks like clear sailing to election for the governor — with the exception noted in the poll of Schwarzenegger’s association in the minds of voters with California’s top political pariah, George W. Bush.
Californians of all stripes and persuasions don’t care for the president, whose approval is at 30 percent. In the poll, 65 percent held an unfavorable view of the president’s handling of the economy, and according to the pollsters, almost 90 percent of those who disapprove of Bush’s handling of the economy plan to vote against Schwarzenegger.
