Thread: 48% of California Voters Blame State Budget Crisis On Legisl

48% of California Voters Blame State Budget Crisis On Legislature

Monday, January 19, 2009

Nearly half of California voters (48%) blame state legislators for California’s current budget problems.

But voters are evenly divided on whether taxes should be raised (45%) or spending should be cut (45%) to reduce the state budget deficit, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of California voters. California faces a $41.6 billion deficit over the next 18 months.

Twenty-nine percent (29%) say the overall economic meltdown is responsible for the state’s budget woes, while 13% blame Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ten percent (10%) are not sure who to blame.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) currently approve of Schwarzenegger’s job performance, while 60% disapprove. Democrats control both chambers of the legislature, while the governor is a Republican.

Schwarzenegger is not eligible for reelection, and early match-ups for the 2010 gubernatorial election in California show that it's likely to be a close one.

Forty-three percent (43%) of California voters say it is possible to balance the state budget without raising taxes, but the identical number (43%) say it is not possible.

State Controller John Chiang announced on Friday that beginning February 1 he is delaying for 30 days $3.7 billion in tax refunds and payments for student aid, social services and mental health programs. He said the state is running out of funds.

Despite the economic squeeze on state spending, 65% of California voters say they still support Proposition 13, the referendum passed in 1978 that requires two-thirds majorities in both chambers of the state legislature to raise taxes. Twenty-six percent (26%) oppose it, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

But 59% say they would vote to raise taxes rather than make further cuts in the public education system, while 35% say a cut in education spending is a better alternative.

Sixty-five percent (65%), however, oppose Schwarzenegger’s proposal to triple the state car tax. Nineteen percent (19%) favor the tax hike, with 17% undecided.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of male voters blame state legislators for the current economic problems, compared to 43% of female voters.

Sixty percent (60%) of Republicans and 61% of unaffiliated voters agree the legislature is to blame. Democrats are more evenly divided between blaming legislators and the overall economic meltdown.

While California voters send mixed signals on raising taxes, 86% of Republicans, 72% of unaffiliated voters and 47% of Democrats back the tax-limiting Proposition 13. Support runs high through virtually all age and income groups.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats prefer raising taxes to reduce the state budget deficit, while 65% of Republicans and 54% of unaffiliated voters say cutting state services is the better way to go.

Similarly, while 61% of Republicans and 50% of unaffiliated voters think the state budget can be balanced without raising taxes, 58% of Democrats disagree.

But a majority of Democrats (50%) are against the proposed raising of the state car tax, as are 82% of GOP voters and 69% of unaffiliateds.

Thirty-five percent (35%) of California voters say they are at least somewhat likely to leave the state because of the current economic climate, including 14% who say it is Very Likely. But 32% say they have no intention of moving.

Voters ages 18-29 are the most likely to say they might move.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of state voters believe the United States will still be in recession at the end of this year, and just 12% disagree.

Seventy percent (70%) approve of President-elect Obama’s performance to date, while 29% disapprove. Obama scores slightly better in California than he does nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index.

www.rasmussenreports.com

If anybody can make sense of this mess, I hope they will explain it to the citizens of California. This is exactly why no progress has been made or will be made on the CA budget deficit. Total chaos and confusion!

and absolutely nothing mentioned of Illegal Immigration

If this initiative gets on the ballot (www.taxpayerrevolution.org/) the press will then be talking about illegal aliens and the budget.

Ignorance is Bliss in Calimexifornia .
The people elect the racist government that screws Americans and keeps rewarding the Illegals .
Theres mega billions at California's fingertips , all they have to do is kick out the pro illegal racist Government and their beloved illegal economic terrorists .

The first thing we do is buy straight jakckets for everyone of them and that includes Arnold.