| Figure | Group | Approve | Disapprove | No Opinion |
| Arnold | All | 33 | 55 | 12 |
| Arnold | Dems | 32 | 56 | 12 |
| Arnold | Reps | 30 | 57 | 13 |
| Arnold | Other | 36 | 52 | 12 |
| Arnold | LA | 26 | 67 | 7 |
| Arnold | SFBay | 45 | 43 | 12 |
| Leg | All | 14 | 74 | 12 |
| Leg | Dems | 19 | 69 | 13 |
| Leg | Reps | 11 | 83 | 6 |
| Leg | Other | 12 | 71 | 17 |
| Leg | CV | 12 | 80 | 8 |
| Leg | SFBay | 20 | 66 | 14 |
Ok, shocking might not be the best word for it, perhaps “completely expected” would work better. The latest bit of data to come out from the good folks at the Field poll is approval data (PDF) on our elected officials. And let’s just say it ain’t all that pretty. The Legislature is sitting at a sparkling 14% approval rating and the Governator is at 33%.
I included a couple of the breakouts here by region. Interestingly, the San Francisco Bay region seems to be a bit more sympathetic to the elected officials. For both the Governor and the Legislature, approval numbers were highest by the Bay. On the other hand, the LA area pretty much hates Arnold, and the Central Valley feels the same way about the Legislature.
I think one question that wasn’t answered here was how Californians feel about their own Legislator. Typically those numbers are far higher, after all it’s harder to hate somebody you’ve met and voted for several times than the nebulous “Legislature.” Nobody votes for the “legislature” so there is no ownership of that body by the voters. On the other hand, over 50% of the state voted to re-elect the Governator.
Also interesting, but unsurprising, was that Arnold is now officially more popular with Democrats than Republicans. Congratulations on that Arnold. Your party officially hates you.
It’s clear that the elected leaders will not be featured prominently in any commercials in the next three weeks. Well, not if the Yes campaigns want to win. Although, if there was an ad about Prop 1C (lottery), perhaps a wonkish politician might help. I was thinking John Chiang, but I don’t know his official position on the issue, and I doubt that he would want to be associated with this stinker of a special election.
Schwarzenegger, even more than the Republicans in the legislature, is responsible for the mess we’re in. He repealed the VLF fee increase when he took office, creating a $5-6 billion hole in the budget. Then he campaigned for Prop 57, which issued a one-time “Economic Recovery” bonds of up to $15 billion to paper over the resulting deficit.
He also passed Prop 58, a “balanced budget act” which made it so that the state could never again borrow money. Then spent the next few years robbing Peter to pay Paul, trying to take money from K-12 education and public transit to put into the general fund and fill the hole he dug for himself. But the hole just kept getting deeper. And now he is falling into it.