[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

According to a new PPIC poll out today, Californians favor the balanced approach by California Democrats over Governor Schwarzenegger's risky lottery scheme or the GOP's cuts-only approach.

"As residents’ perception of the problem has grown, their faith in the governor to make tough budget choices has declined from 24 percent in January to 17 percent today," notes the survey. "Californians put more trust in legislators to make these choices, with 37 percent preferring the Democrats’ approach and 20 percent preferring the Republicans’ approach. But it’s clear that Californians’ trust is in the legislators of their own parties, rather than in the legislature as a whole. A strong majority of Democrats (63%) want Democratic lawmakers to handle the budget, while nearly half of Republicans (46%) prefer GOP lawmakers’ approach, and one in four (25%) favor the governor’s."

Other highlights:

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's chickens are coming home to roost on Wednesday, when he'll announce a budget deficit somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 billion caused by his tax-cutting actions of the last few years. Rumors are swirling in the Capitol about what action he'll take. But the bottom line will be whether he chooses to lead or wimp out.

Here are some of his options: