PPIC Poll: Obama up, 98, Arnold's Budget Down

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

PPIC released a new poll today, with their typical plethora of data. What else can I say but "Oooooh, fun!" The news is good for Obama, but not so much for Schwarzenegger or Howard Jarvis' corpse. Arnold's proposal to privatize the lottery and his budget overall are getting terrible numbers.

But, before we get to Arnold, if McSame ever planned on doing anything other than picking up checks in California, which he is doing today, perhaps he will reconsider after these numbers:

If the general election were held today, likely voters would favor Obama over McCain by 17 points (54% to 37%); likely voters also favor Clinton over McCain by 12 points (51% to 39%).

The fact that Obama has a larger lead than Clinton largely speaks to the fact that Obama is perceived to be the nominee. However, it does blow out of the water the "big states" argument that Clinton was using a few weeks back.

On Props 98 and 99  (I do some work for No 98/Yes 99), both 98 and 99 are under the 50% mark that usually indicates a tough slog to passage at this point.  With less than two weeks to go, Prop 98 is looking badly at 30% Yes, 48% No.  Prop 99 still has its head above water at 44% Yes, 36% No. More on this and the budget over the flip.

Much of the problem with Prop 98 seems to stem from its elimination of rent control. Ignoring the state constitutional question of whether Prop 98 addresses more than one issue, the authors of Prop 98 once again overreached. You see, rent control is pretty popular here:

Attitudes toward rent control are favorable among both homeowners (51%) and renters (63%).  A majority of Democrats (66%) and half of independents (51%) favor rent control, while a majority of Republicans (53%) say it is a bad thing.

Those are pretty strong numbers overral in support of rent control, and this smarmy attack on rent control isn't likely to help the apartment owners.