The California media is abuzz with reports that for the first time, more California voters view Gov. Jerry Brown (D) unfavorably (43%) than favorably (42%). The news comes on the heels of Brown’s recent announcement that the state’s budget shortfall would be $16 billion–almost twice what was expected, and likely an underestimate.
The Sacramento Bee reports on the Public Policy Institute of California poll, which sampled likely voters:
Brown’s declining job approval rating is less a plunge than a shift. Among all adults in California – not just likely voters – Brown’s approval rating remains positive, 39 percent to 36 percent, according to the poll.
“It’s not surprising,” said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “The economic news is middling, at best, and the state fiscal news is bad.”
He said, “In his early months, Californians were willing to give Brown the benefit of the doubt. But his grace period has ended.”
(See Breitbart News’ Mike Flynn on the perils of polling “adults” versus “likely voters.”)
There is no serious recall effort in California, as of right now. However, Brown’s failure to rein in public spending–when he was responsible, in his first tenure as governor in the 1970s, for many of the policies now dragging California into the red–is not exactly a shock. Neither party has mustered the courage to confront California’s vociferous public unions, its well-funded radical lobbies, or its staggering economic reality.
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