The Public Policy Institute of California'srecently released "Californians and their Government Survey" hasyielded some fascinating information on the current mindset of GoldenState residents.
Generally speaking, the poll shows that mostCalifornians aren't happy with Sacramento and may not support severalof the ballot measures coming up on the May 19 special election.
The survey, which contacted just over 2000 residents by telephone March 10-17, also showed a couple of other interesting items. Oneof which is that, oddly, the fervor to repeal the two-thirds statebudget vote requirement has slipped 10 percentage points.
Thecurrent supermajority vote, required by the California Constitution,has been at the heart of the months-long budget standoff between themajority Democrats and the small handful of obstructionist Republicanlawmakers. Those same GOPers ultimately used the requirement (and theirvotes) to force concessions and other deals. California is one of justthree states in the nation requiring a supermajority to pass a budget.
ManyDemocratic state lawmakers said that as soon as the standoff was overthey would immediately go to work on getting an initiative on theballot to amend the requirement to a 55 percent vote requirement.
Nowhowever the PPIC poll shows that Californians are not as sure aboutchanging the state Constitution as they were a few weeks ago. InJanuary, a majority of likely voters (53 percent) said lowering thethreshold was a good idea. Currently, 43 percent of likely voters thinkit is a good idea while 49 percent think it is a bad one. Broken outamongst political party affiliation, Democrats are strongly supportiveof making the change. Not surprisingly, most Republican surveyrespondents stand opposed.
The reasons for this backslide are not entirely obvious. Perhapsthe idea of making it easier for the majority to pass an annual budgeton time has given Californians second thoughts. Perhaps, down deep,they want to see their lawmakers struggle to form a spending plan that defacto must pick up at least some votes from the opposition party in order to pass.
Whatevertheir reasons, the idea of the elected lawmakers the 8th economic powerin the world fighting like cranky 4-year-olds over the course of monthsin order to pass a budget is as damaging as it is embarrassing.
Onecan hope that Democratic leaders understand that the campaign for thisconstitution amendment has to be more of a voter educational outreacheffort than a traditional partisan effort.
Clearly, the state must change this archaic requirement.
But as noted earlier, most Golden State residents are very concerned about most things coming out of Sacramento these days. Inorder to get this budget requirement changed, Californians must bepresented with a logical and rational argument supporting why thiswould be good move for the entire state. If the voters get a whiff thatthis is just another effort to consolidate power for the majority, themeasure will likely -- and unfortunately -- be rejected.
Jeff Mitchell is a longtime California journalist and political observer.
