(The Center Square) – Half of Americans say California is in decline, with more than half of Republicans saying the state isn’t really American, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. Meanwhile, 30% of Democrats say the state is “too liberal,” suggesting a growing number of voters are looking for the state to change course.
With 47% of voters in California registered as Democrats, 24% as Republicans and 29% as no party preference, these new figures could mean in-roads for the state’s Republicans and more moderate Democrats.
“California is a state in freefall,” said Eric Early, the leading Republican contender for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, to The Center Square. “With the highest gas costs and personal income tax, worst public schools, lax criminal laws which have turned California into a Criminal’s Paradise causing people to live in fear of even walking their dogs, [the] highest housing and apartment rental costs … people are voting with their feet. Over 800,000 people moved out last year alone.”
While it may be unsurprising that 76% of Republicans believe the state is in decline, the poll found 45% of independents and 33% of Democrats feel the same way. Only 1-in-3 Democrats believe the state’s standard of living is better than most states’, and only 2-in-5 Americans believe California is a good place to raise a family, with a similar share saying the state economy is strong. Forty-eight percent of Republicans went so far as to say the state is “not really American.”
However, even if many Californians feel the state is going in the wrong direction, key social issues prove a stark difference between California and the rest of the country. The poll also found that Californians are significantly more supportive of abortion than national voters. Sixty-three percent of national voters support some or unrestricted abortion access until birth, compared to 79% of Californians. The share of Californians supporting any and all abortion was 53% higher than the national average, coming in at 46% compared to the nationwide 30%.
