California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s approval rating has plunged among the state’s registered voters and less than one-third now believe he’s doing a good job.
Schwarzenegger had approval ratings as high as 60 percent just six months ago, but the latest California Field Poll shows that only 31 percent of voters now approve of his performance, while 48 percent disapprove of it.
The governor has a razor-thin favorable rating among California Republicans — 51 percent approve of his performance — and 51 percent of those who describe themselves as moderate conservatives also approve.
But among Democrats, he has a 32 percent approval rating, and 56 percent disapprove of his job in office.
A big factor behind voters’ views of Schwarzenegger is the state’s budget deficit, according to the California Progress Report.
The Report cites a Public Policy Institute of California survey that found 76 percent of likely voters consider the budget situation a “big problem,” and only 35 percent favor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget. That compares to 68 percent who were satisfied with his handling of the budget in January of last year.
The Report observes that Schwarzenegger “is getting blamed for the budget in particular and the direction of the state by the voters. The same thing happened to Gray Davis when he had ballooning budget deficits.”
The state legislature, which has a Democratic majority in both houses, fares even worse than the governor in the California Field Poll, with an approval rating of only 30 percent and a disapproval rating of 57 percent.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.