Calexit: One Third of Californians Want State to Secede

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 32% of Californians back “Calexit” — the movement to secede from the Union and form an independent country.

The Business Insider notes:

The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted to remain in the United Kingdom.

California also far surpasses the national average favoring secession, which stood at 22 percent, down from 24 percent in 2014.

The poll surveyed 500 Californians among more than 14,000 adults nationwide from Dec. 6 to Jan. 19 and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of one percentage point nationally and five percentage points in California.

The secession movement has been boosted by consternation with the surprising election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. California voters overwhelmingly favored the Democrat favorite, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Golden State is entirely responsible for Clinton’s victory in the popular vote nationwide.

California Democrats have openly acknowledged the movement to secede, though mostly to discourage it. Kevin de Léon (D-Los Angeles), who leads the California State Senate, told legislators at the start of the new session: “Many Californians – some tongue-in-cheek, some hand-to-heart – have advocated withdrawal. But, in America, no state ever succeeds by seceding.”

While much of the rest of the country might be happy to see California go, the state would probably face constitutional obstacles to secession. The Supreme Court held in Texas v. White (1869) that states could not secede unilaterally.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.