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of course Baldassare would say that. the ppic is a left leaning group. it would be nice to see the poll that they ran. the voting public doesn't want anymore taxes period. -- mdimond57 Leave your commentPollsters evaluate California special election resultsPublished: Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009 - 12:00 am
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Two of California's top pollsters said Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some lawmakers are miscasting last month's special election as a clarion call against any new taxes to solve California's fiscal crisis. Instead, pollsters Mark DiCamillo and Mark Baldassare characterized the May 19 vote against five budget measures as an order to a dysfunctional state government to fix California's budget mess – and do so quickly. "We've heard a lot of people say the vote means 'no new taxes.' I would question that," said Baldassare, survey director for the Public Policy Institute of California, in the pollsters' joint appearance before the Sacramento Press Club. DiCamillo, director of the California Field Poll, said pre-election polling indicated voters favored a blend of spending cuts and "targeted taxes rather than sweeping taxes." DiCamillo said voters opposed expanding sales taxes or boosting taxes on businesses or gasoline. But he said they widely favored "sin taxes" targeting pornography, alcohol and tobacco and strongly backed hiking income taxes on people earning more than $1 million a year. Baldassare said the election turnout of just 28 percent of registered voters skewed strongly conservative. He said half of voters were age 55 and over and a near equal number of Republicans as Democrats turned out in a blue state. "The vote in this election, which for some time has been described as reflecting the will of the people, doesn't reflect the will of the people," Baldassare said. He added that PPIC surveys leading up to the election "consistently" showed "a plurality of Californians saying they favor a mix of tax increases and spending cuts." But DiCamillo said anti-tax sentiments were likely fueled by one key initiative – Proposition 1A – because voters believed lawmakers, in the official ballot summary, deliberately hid the fact that the measure would have extended sales, vehicle and income tax hikes for two years. DiCamillo said polling showed voters had little idea what the May 19 initiatives would do – yet knew from news reports that Proposition 1A would trigger extended taxes. Baldassare said defeat of the budget initiatives – and passage of a measure to cap lawmakers' pay in deficit years – reflected "voters' accumulated negative image" of the Legislature and governor. "This should serve as a warning that they need to avoid delays and pass this budget," he said. Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539. What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.) Here are some rules of the road: • Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior. • Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear. • Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals. • Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message. • Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box. • Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time. • Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed. • Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience. You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at [email protected]. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa. If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to [email protected]. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.  Comments:
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