A new
Field Poll (pdf) released today shows that Ahnuld is doing the worst thing he can to help his ballot issues in next week's election. He's
campaigning for them.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaigning ahead of election day next week has hurt rather than helped efforts to win support for his four favored ballot initiatives, a poll released on Tuesday found.
(snip)
This year, as voters consider reforms on teacher tenure, union political contributions, the state budget and redistricting, the charm may however be wearing thin, according to pollster Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll.
"What we are seeing this year is that he's pretty much worn out his welcome, especially with Democrats and with nonpartisans," he said in an interview. "It almost has a counter productive impact in this year's campaign."
Outspent and trailing in the polls, Republican Schwarzenegger kicked off a new approach last week by appearing before television audiences not hand picked by his staff as in previous rallies.
The Field Poll released on Tuesday measured voter reaction both before the new approach, from October 18-24, and after, from October 25-30, and found opposition on the rise.
Most recently, 51 percent of likely voters opposed his plan to let a panel of retired judges draw electoral districts, compared to 41 percent the week before. Support for the idea fell over the period to 35 percent from 38 percent.
"The governor's image is a negative drag and it is directly related to how people are going to vote on these propositions," DiCamillo said.
(snip)
The Field Poll of 506 likely voters from October 18-24 and 581 adults the following week found unchanged support at 44 percent for Schwarzenegger's proposal to give teachers tenure after five years rather than two. Yet opposition rose to 50 percent from 47 percent in the survey, which had a plus or minus four percent margin of error.
Now for a glance at the hard numbers:
Among Likely Voters:
Prop. 74 (Teacher Tenure)
Yes 44%
No 50%
Undecided 6%
Prop. 75 ("Paycheck Protection)
Yes 40%
No 50%
Undecided 10%
Prop. 76 (State Spending)
Yes 32%
No 60%
Undecided 8%
Prop 77 ((Redistricting)
Yes 35%
No 51%
Undecided 14%
Last week the "Yes" campaign disputed the numbers of a previous poll, but two solid poll results cannot be disputed. Der Gropenfurher is in big trouble.