A new Field Poll finds a huge increase in the percentage of Californians happy with the direction the state is headed, bolstering Governor jerry Brown’s reelection chances. 43% of respondents thought that the state was improving, compared to only 13% in 2010. Though 41% of voters thought things were deteriorating, in 2010 that number was a staggering 80%.
Reading between the lines, however, Mark Di Camillo, director of the Field Poll, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Most of the improvement is coming from voters along the coast, with the Bay Area providing the engine.” The coastal counties registered 47% of voters optimistic about the state, but only 34% felt that way in the interior of the state, where 51% thought things will get worse.
The salient point to be considered is that unemployment was in double digits in the Central Valley in June, but only 4.8% in the Marin-San Francisco-San Mateo region.
DiCamillo explained the partisanship was a major factor in the results, claiming voters “are in a hyper-partisan state of mind on policy issues.” GOP voters were anything but sanguine about the state, with only 21% happy with the direction the state is taking, while 58% of Democrats were happy. Those unwilling to be identified as members of either party showed 44% content with the future of the state.
There seems to be evidence that the GOP is gaining strength in Central California and other parts of the state still suffering from the recession.
When it comes to the state legislature, according to the poll, 48% of Democrats (who control the legislature) approve of the legislature, while a paltry 14% of GOP voters agree. 34% of total voters approve of the legislature; 42% disapprove. That 42% is a drop from June, when 47% of respondents disapproved–and a huge improvement from 2010, when 76% of respondents disapproved.
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