[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) statewide survey released today showed that the majority of Californians rank education as a top priority, and that they want to protect schools from budget cuts. The poll also shows that parents believe schools are not currently receiving enough funding -- further demonstrating that the Governor’s proposed $4.8 billion in cuts to schools and students is out of sync with the values and priorities of most Californians.

Below are excerpts from some of the PPIC findings.

Education is a top priority for most Californians:

"Education continues to rate high on Californians’ list of the major issues facing the state."

Californians don’t want to cut schools:

"Californians agree that K-12 education is the major spending area they most want to protect from state budget cuts and are concerned that the state’s budget gap will cause significant spending cuts."

Californians believe more money would help public schools:

"A majority of residents agree that additional state funding would lead to higher quality K-12 education (63%)."

There's more...

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Yesterday the Field Poll released a statewide survey that shows Hillary Clinton continuing to enjoy a strong double-digit lead among likely voters in the Golden State. With just weeks before Californians start voting in their primary, a double-digit lead, in a multi-candidate race with a field of strong candidates, is welcome news for our campaign.
 
The Field Poll shows that Hillary has a 14 point lead over Senator Barack Obama among likely California voters – 36 percent to 22 percent. And a recent Public Policy Institute Poll released on December 12 found Clinton with a 24 point lead in the state with Clinton at 44 percent, Obama at 20 percent and Edwards 12 at percent.
 
And when you look beneath the surface of today’s Field Poll, the news is even better: Field Director Mark DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee that “support for Clinton in California remains ‘formidable.’ Women support her over Obama by 20 points - 41 percent to 21 percent. Similarly, she maintains a 20 point lead among Latinos - 42 percent to 22 percent.  Clinton also continues to lead Obama among male voters and leads with Asian voters by 24 percentage points.
 

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The PPIC's latest statewide survey is out, and it reveals an electorate desiring action on health care and term limits reform, but skeptical of our state's financial future.

Prop 93, the term limits reform, has the backing of 47% of likely voters, with 38% opposed and 15% unsure. While this is below the coveted 50% threshold, when the specifics of the initiative are laid out to voters, an even more promising picture emerges. 67% of likely voters support the reduction of maximum time spent in the legislature from 14 years to 12 years, while 58% of voters (including 60% of Republicans), support allowing a legislator to serve a total of 12 years in both or either chamber. And while 66% of likely voters think term limits are a good thing, 69% agree that changes need to be made to the system.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

There a bunch of polling firms in the state, but two are most recognizable, Field and PPIC . Both release their data to the public. Well, most of it anyway. You can actually get Field's cross-tabulations on SacBee Capitol Alert site.Pretty cool if you're as big of a dork as me. But the two groups have very different takes on how best to time the release of their data. Field slowly trickles out each question of a poll. So you get these "Field Seasons" that last for two weeks every few months. First you get Bush's job approval, then you get some environmental question, then you get some initiave. So, they get a fair bit of press coverage from that. Not a bad route, PR speaking.

On the other hand, PPIC allows you to just gorge yourself on data. And this PPIC statewide survey is no different, we've received a tidal wave of data. I'll just take these in the order that they chose. They headline with economic data.  It's not pretty:

Most Californians have a negative outlook on the direction of the state (52%) and the economy (65%) for the next year, and on the impact of the current housing situation on their own finances (52%).

read more »

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Gary A. Patton
Executive Director
Planning and Conservation League

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is "a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research" that provides valuable insight into the policy preferences of the California citizenry through its statewide surveys. The PCL is pleased to announce that the PPIC just released a report on its Statewide Survey on the Environment which summarizes the responses of 2,500 California adults to questions regarding:

-- global warming and energy
-- air quality and health
-- environmental politics and policy preferences

Think you know how your fellow Californians think? Take this quiz based on the PPIC Statewide Survey on the Environment results and see how you do.

1. Percent of Californians who think global warming poses a very serious threat to the state's economy and quality of life (vs. "somewhat serious," "not too serious," or "not at all serious")
a. 32%
b. 45%
c. 50%
d. 54%

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

From Julia Rosen
Working Californians

To: Working Californians

Date: April 25, 2006
This analysis represents the findings of a statewide survey of 400 likely 2008 Democratic primary voters, interviewed by telephone April 9-12, 2006. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 4.9%. The margin of error is higher for subgroups.

SUMMARY