Schwarzenegger and Republican Legislators Losing With California Voters on Budget According to PPIC Poll

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Californians want a balanced approach of spending cuts and tax increases

By Frank D. Russo

76% of California likely voters consider the state budget situation in California to be a “big problem” and only 35% are satisfied with Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget plan. When it comes to making both the tough choices that need to be made on taxes and spending, 36% favor the approach of Democrats in the legislature, followed by 22% for the Governor, and only 19% for legislative Republicans. 47%, the largest segment wants the California budget gap deal with through a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

These are just some of the findings in the survey of over 2000 Californians just released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), a non-partisan and nonprofit organization which has been conducting similar surveys since 1994. They show a dramatic drop for the Governor on the budget and a public that is quite concerned over the direction the state of California is taking. There is ambivalence, to be sure, in Californians’ attitudes towards higher taxes and more governmental services and lower taxes and less services, but many of the numbers here are quite startling. Feathering out the tax question, it appears the voters support the idea of increasing some taxes but not others.

Here are the details.

76% of California likely voters describe the state budget situation as being a “big problem”—and the results are high whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. Another 22% say it is “somewhat of a problem.” These two numbers combine to 98% with only 1% saying it not a problem and 1% who don’t know.

47% want the “state budget gap” dealt with by a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Another 9% say they would like it done mostly through tax increases. 35% say they want the budget deficit eliminated mostly by spending cuts. Looking at this another way and combining the first two responses, there are 56% who favor tax increases somehow as part or most of the solution. And there are 83% who want cuts in the equation either mostly or to some degree. Democrats and Independents favor the mixed approach whereas 51% of Republicans favor “mostly spending cuts’ although a third of Republicans favor the mixed approach.

When asked who’s approach they prefer to make the “tough choices involved in the state budget, both in deciding how much Californians should pay in taxes and how to fund state programs, ” Democratic legislators come out on top with 36%, then the Governor at 22%, followed by Republican legislators at 19%. This is fairly consistent with poll numbers from January.