This is from The Associated Press:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call for a special election and a new advertising campaign to promote his agenda have failed to arrest his slide in popularity, according to a new statewide poll.
According to the Field Poll released Tuesday, 37 percent of registered California voters approve of Schwarzenegger's job performance, a drop of 18 percentage points since February.
Continuing a trend that began in January, 53 percent of registered California voters said they do not approve of Schwarzenegger's performance. That's a jump of 18 percentage points since February.
In other words, 18 percent of the electorate went from supporting Schwarzenegger to opposing him. That's a huge change in his job performance. In the AP article, poll director Mark DiCamillo said that this poll was "a reaction to the call for the special election." The seven-day survey began on June 13, the same night that Schwarzenegger called for his special election.
Schwarzenegger has been pulling a page from the Bush's continuous campaign playbook. Both Bush and Schwarzenegger refuse to negotiate, or compromise their agenda with the Democrats. Both have tried to circumvent Congress, and the legislature, by taking their case to the people. Bush has tried to sell Social Security and Iraq to the American public with his multiple public relations tours and Republican-controlled rallies. Schwarzenegger is trying to sell his redistricting program, and limits on state spending with the special election. Both have floundered as specific details in the programs have been made known to American public, and to Californians. You can only use so much smoke and mirrors to sell bad legislation. Once the public finds out about the details of this legislation, then no amount of flag waving, or band playing parties are going to generate the votes needed to approve such legislation.
Ted: Don't feel too bad. The details are fuzzy over here in California as well. There is very little information or a comprehensive analysis in the local papers regarding these special election ballot measures. And whatever information there is, has been subverted with rumors, accusations and innuendo.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Party and the Governator doesn't want Californians to know or understand what these ballot measures are in this special election. They'll ramp up their Hollywood PR machine with Schwarzenegger ranting about the "evil" Democratic legislature, and that California voters had chosen him to clean up and reform the system. There will be no serious debate or analysis on these ballot measures--I'm not even completely sure what these ballot measures will do to the state.
So the Republicans will ramp up their PR machine, stifle any serious debate, and hope that enough Republican faithfuls in Orange County will come out in numbers to vote in the Republican agenda while overcomming the opposition from the more liberal Bay Area vote.
That's reform?
Hey Dawn:
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm getting from the news article. I would imagine that as both the governator's PR machine, and the Democrats and the unions' PR machines start ramping up with mud-racking advertisements demonizing each other, you might see some greater opposition against these members--especially when the unions start informing their members of these initiatives. It is only the start of the ball game here.