Poll: Californians want budget cuts, not new taxes

By JUDY LIN, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 6:02 a.m.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Half of California voters prefer closing the state's projected $20 billion deficit by cutting spending rather than raising taxes, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday.

Nearly 30 percent favor an equal mix of cuts and tax increases, while just 13 percent favor closing the gap solely or mostly through tax hikes.

The Field Poll also found that most voters believe fundamental changes to the state constitution are not necessary if lawmakers are more willing to compromise. Seventy-five percent of likely voters supported that opinion, compared with 20 percent who believed the state is in need of fundamental changes.

Voters backed up that sentiment by rejecting, 47 percent to 43 percent, the idea of letting the Legislature approve the state budget with a simple majority vote. Currently, it takes two-thirds majorities in the Assembly and Senate to pass budget bills and tax increases.

The survey results suggest that any ballot initiative seeking to reduce the budget threshold would have a tough time getting passed, said Mark DiCamillo, executive director of the Field Poll.

"Polling on initiatives would tend to suggest that the chances of passage are not great when you're even or behind," DiCamillo said. "You almost need to start out ahead. And that doesn't even guarantee you're going to pass."

The survey also asked whether constitutional amendments on the ballot should require two-thirds of the vote to pass. Currently, a simple majority vote is sufficient to amend the constitution.

The poll found that 51 percent of California voters support raising the voting requirement to approve constitutional amendments.

DiCamillo said very few initiatives would pass if the voting threshold on constitutional amendments were raised. Even the state's landmark property tax initiative, Proposition 13, received 64.8 percent of the vote in 1978, just shy of the two-thirds.

The Field Poll surveyed 1,232 registered voters between Jan. 5 and Jan. 17 by telephone in six languages. The survey's margin of sampling error was 2.9 percentage points.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... new-taxes/