New Poll Shows California Voters Strongly Support State Global Warming Action--and How Far Republican Legislators Are Out of Ste

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

A poll released earlier this week shows 91% of Democrats, 85% of independents, and 61% of Republicans support strong state action to implement a reduction in greenhouse gases as required by the landmark bill passed by the legislature in 2006 and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The clear findings of this poll show that likely California voters not only support this action, but that they feel reducing global warming is very important to the future of the state, and that candidates and legislators who oppose action may not fare too well with the voters this fall.

The numbers are just eye popping and come at a time when Republican legislators have once again sought to tie passage of the California state budget to a one year delay in implementing AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. They are in line with other polling by the California Field Poll and the Public Policy Institute of California. And they show why similar to actions the minority Republican Party tried to force on the Democratic members of the legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger last year in budget negotiations in defunding the ability of state Attorney General Jerry Brown to enforce our state’s basic environmental law—the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA--failed. In this annual budget ritual where a two-thirds vote is needed in both the California Assembly and State Senate, Republican votes are needed and they seek to leverage that into getting laws passed that they cannot muster a majority for and that the California voting public does not enforce.

In 2007, the California Field Poll showed that 79% of California voters supported Prop 32, even though only one Republican legislator voted for it.

This week’s poll also comes as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is about to release its draft “scoping plan” for implementing AB 32.

The Next 10 poll shows that nearly three out of four voters (73 percent) support state energy policies to reduce global warming pollution. Despite the weak California economy, nearly six out of 10 voters (58 percent) support these energy policies even if they result in higher prices.

Here are some more specifics: