Californians Approve of President & Governor, but Worry about the Future

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) completed its most recent Californians and Their Government Survey at the beginning of the year.  PPIC polled the opinions of 1,539 adults in California – 1,050 of them being likely voters --- and the survey has a margin of error of only 3.5%.

On the top of their minds of many Californians are concerned about two issues.  One is the state’s economic conditions, with 23% of respondents citing either jobs, the economy, or inflation as the most important issue for Governor Newsom and the State Legislature to address this year.  Nearly the same amount, 20%, stated homelessness was the issue they most wanted California’s leaders to address.

Respondents were split evenly on whether California overall is going in the right or wrong direction, with 49% each giving the opposite answer.  More pessimistically, 66% expect financially bad times to hit the Golden State in the next 12 months, with 62% believing California has already entered into a recession. 

Yet none of these concerns affecting Californians views of Governor Gavin Newsom. 58% of respondents approve of the job Newsom is doing as governor, 57% approve of his handling of the state’s economy and 52% approve his handling of the budget. 

The Legislature did not score as high with the people who gave its performance a split decision with 49% approving and 48% disapproving the Legislature’s work.

Trust in state government overall was low, with only 53% saying they trust California’s government some of the time.  67% believe a few big interests run the state government at the expense of residents. 45% believe people in state government waste too much money.

Californians also have clear spending priorities.  43% believe K-12 public education should be California’s highest spending priority.  42% also feel the same way about spending on health and human services.  Higher education remarkably is as low a spending priority for Californians as are prisons and corrections.  Only 7% of respondents view them as the state’s highest priorities.

Possibly linked to their concerns and frustrations with homelessness, when asked directly about these issues, 70% of Californians view both homelessness and housing affordability as a big problem where they live. High housing costs are making 34% consider moving out of state.

When asked about their views on Washington and the federal government, California provided President Joe Biden some rare, good numbers. 53% approve of the job he is doing as President of the United States. The same amount approves of Biden’s handling of the economy.

Contrary to these views, 55% lack a good amount of confidence in President Biden making the right decisions for America’s future.  67% also believe the United States is going in the wrong direction and 74% think the country is heading into bad financial times.  

The obvious disconnect is likely a partisan one.  Though America is nearly evenly split in it liberal versus conservative leanings with a growing number of independents holding the middle ground, 47% of California voters are registered as Democrats. 27% of California voters having no party affiliation and only 24% are Republican. This is reflected in other responses to questions about leadership in the federal government.

Congress as it does nationally scores horribly with Californians.  70% disapprove of how the U.S. Congress is handling its job and 66% have an unfavorable view of the new Speaker of the House, Californian Kevin McCarthy.

On top of that, 59% of Californians disapprove of the way the United States Supreme Court is handling its job.  52% consider the current made up of the High Court to be too conservative.

Once again California finds itself in an odd position.  The people who call it home have very strong concerns about their future livelihoods in the state and across the country. Typically, such concerns result in negative feelings expressed towards elected government. For Congress and the State Legislature this appears to be true. President Biden and Governor Newsom have remained in Californians good graces because apparently most of the people in California personally like them.

How far that good will can go and how long it will continue may depend on whether or not Californians fears of hardships come true or not. If they do, we can expect both Joe Biden’s and Gavin Newsom’s favorability numbers to drop in the Golden State.  But that won’t translate into. any Republicans winning statewide in California in the next few years.  If not longer than that.

Californians are clear. There are big issues they are worried about that they want handled.  And handled by Democrats. 

You can read the full results of the at this link:  https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-february-2023/

Brian Floyd is an author, historian, and political strategist who frequently contributes commentary to the Blade.