Field Poll: Californians, whether Dem or GOP, really, really hate their politicians
Californians finally agree strongly on something: 72 percent of Democrats, 86 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of "decline to state" voters (people who generally can't stand the two-party system), all disapprove of the California State Legislature.
That's what the new Field Poll says, the lowest approvals in more than a generation.
Voters and residents are so sick of Sacramento's state Assembly and Senate and the antics of its highly paid 120 legislators that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's truly abysmal ratings -- 65 percent of us disapprove -- make him practically look like a beloved figure.
Well, okay, not beloved. Just not hated as much. But the really perplexing riddle posed by The Field Poll is this:
People know the California legislature is rotten. They know it cannot meet legal deadlines, cannot fix (even a little) the infrastructure, cannot save for a rainy day and cannot get its hands out of the pockets of the wealthy prison guard union, the even wealthier casino Indian tribes, and the equally wealthy developers.
Almost nobody can stand the elected suits in the Capitol. Got it. Then why do Los Angeles residents keep electing to local offices former California state legislators who have just recently committed all of the above acts and more?
On the Los Angeles City Council, L.A. voters have now installed former state blah-blah-blah Richard Alarcon, and former state this-and-that Paul Koretz and former state whats-it Tony Cardenas. In fact, we are seeing a trend: each time a Los Angeles City Council seat opens now, we see the money-grabbing Sacramento retreads running.
L.A. voters are either A.) bipolar, B.) uninformed, or C.) just really mad at Sacramento for the purposes of letting off steam to a pollster from the Field Poll or the Public Policy Instititute of California Poll, but not truly mad when they actually go to the polls.
Which is it? A., B., C. or another choice?
That's what the new Field Poll says, the lowest approvals in more than a generation.
Voters and residents are so sick of Sacramento's state Assembly and Senate and the antics of its highly paid 120 legislators that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's truly abysmal ratings -- 65 percent of us disapprove -- make him practically look like a beloved figure.
Well, okay, not beloved. Just not hated as much. But the really perplexing riddle posed by The Field Poll is this:
People know the California legislature is rotten. They know it cannot meet legal deadlines, cannot fix (even a little) the infrastructure, cannot save for a rainy day and cannot get its hands out of the pockets of the wealthy prison guard union, the even wealthier casino Indian tribes, and the equally wealthy developers.
Almost nobody can stand the elected suits in the Capitol. Got it. Then why do Los Angeles residents keep electing to local offices former California state legislators who have just recently committed all of the above acts and more?
On the Los Angeles City Council, L.A. voters have now installed former state blah-blah-blah Richard Alarcon, and former state this-and-that Paul Koretz and former state whats-it Tony Cardenas. In fact, we are seeing a trend: each time a Los Angeles City Council seat opens now, we see the money-grabbing Sacramento retreads running.
L.A. voters are either A.) bipolar, B.) uninformed, or C.) just really mad at Sacramento for the purposes of letting off steam to a pollster from the Field Poll or the Public Policy Instititute of California Poll, but not truly mad when they actually go to the polls.
Which is it? A., B., C. or another choice?
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