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Schwarzenegger's approval numbers hit an all-time low
Contra Costa Times | 7/30/9 | Steve Harmon

Posted on 07/30/2009 7:51:11 AM PDT by SmithL

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sunk to an all-time low among Californians in a new survey that also finds that residents, while strongly in favor of environmental regulations, want to slow down on environmental reforms while the economy is still taking a beating.

Schwarzenegger's job approval rating is now at 28 percent, according to a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, comparable to the ratings faced by former Gov. Gray Davis before he was recalled in 2003.

The poll of 2,501 adults was taken July 7-21, at the height of budget negotiations but before the $26 billion deficit had been resolved. Ironically, Schwarzenegger had attempted to appeal to populist sentiment by refusing to consider taxes as a way to climb out of the budget hole, using a combination of cuts, fund shifts and borrowing instead.

"A lot of the cuts being made were not popular, and he really took the lead and was out front on what he said was needed — staying firm on not raising taxes — so the entire deal has his fingerprints," said Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Cal State East Bay. "I hear from a lot of people who would have understood if some taxes were raised. Raising taxes on the wealthy sure would have been more palatable than cuts on students, elderly and children."

Schwarzenegger may be suffering from the high expectations he raised at the outset of his term, said Jack Pitney, government professor at Claremont McKenna College.

"He was going to be an action governor, he was going to blow up the boxes," Pitney said. "Several years later, people are used to him and he has become part of the Sacramento system he came to office to end."


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: goldenstate; missinglink; schwarzenegger; yourtaxdollarsatwork

1 posted on 07/30/2009 7:51:12 AM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Schwarzenegger. [Whip sound.]


2 posted on 07/30/2009 7:54:02 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: SmithL
A RINO that abandoned his values at the first convenient opportunity.
3 posted on 07/30/2009 7:55:43 AM PDT by Fido969 ("The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax." - Albert Einstein)
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To: SmithL

Ahnold went into the budget the Calif. legislature passed and red-lined several billion. Good for him. Sometimes he does something right. Too bad it wasn’t enough.


4 posted on 07/30/2009 7:57:28 AM PDT by Clara Lou (Spread my work ethic, not my wealth.)
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To: SmithL

...and he wants to run for President?


5 posted on 07/30/2009 7:58:41 AM PDT by newfreep ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." - P.J. O'Rourke)
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To: Clara Lou

“Ahnold went into the budget the Calif. legislature passed and red-lined several billion. Good for him. Sometimes he does something right. Too bad it wasn’t enough.”

seemed like it may have been a too little too late type of thing
ah well


6 posted on 07/30/2009 7:59:27 AM PDT by DM1
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To: SmithL
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12940068?source=rss&nclick_check=1
7 posted on 07/30/2009 8:04:41 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: Clara Lou

Such is the fate of budget cutters. Which is why there are rarely ever budget cuts.


8 posted on 07/30/2009 8:05:55 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: SmithL

Tough times indeed for “the Covert Kennedy”.


9 posted on 07/30/2009 8:06:38 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: SmithL

A preview of what Obozo’s numbers are going to be very soon.


10 posted on 07/30/2009 8:12:49 AM PDT by DarthVader (Liberalism is the politics of EVIL whose time of judgment has come.)
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To: Wolfie

The sentiment to tax the rich is always there, except that the rich, as a class, are masters of tax evasion. That is why measures that aim at the rich inevitably hit the less rich, then the middle classes.


11 posted on 07/30/2009 8:13:21 AM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE homo)
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To: SmithL

Arnold betrayed conservatives long ago. But, this has nothing to do with that.

The people hin California didn’t want their taxes raised, they don’t want their programs cut. They are too spoiled and ignorant to understand the mess they are in is because they wanted both, tried to have both, and couldn’t sustain both.

He can’t win that public relations battle. Spending cuts were the way to go whether the children there like it or not.


12 posted on 07/30/2009 8:23:01 AM PDT by Soul Seeker
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To: newfreep
Orin Hatch wanted to change the Constitution so this clownegger can be our president
13 posted on 07/30/2009 8:35:24 AM PDT by drypowder
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To: SmithL

We should probably call and give him an “atta boy” for hanging in there on the recent budget confrontation although I’d like to slap him for all of the crap he’s pulled since being elected.


14 posted on 07/30/2009 8:57:58 AM PDT by Rockitz (This isn't rocket science- follow the money and you'll find truth.)
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To: DM1

“Ahnold went into the budget the Calif. legislature passed and red-lined several billion. Good for him. Sometimes he does something right. Too bad it wasn’t enough.”

seemed like it may have been a too little too late type of thing
ah well
_____________________________________________

Some money was supposed to come from allowing oil exploration off Santa Barbara...But, Dems said no. Then Arnold had to find some money to cut.


15 posted on 07/30/2009 12:06:36 PM PDT by L.A.Justice
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To: A.A. Cunningham

Thanks, I don’t know where my link went.


16 posted on 07/30/2009 12:48:37 PM PDT by SmithL (The Golden State demands all of your gold)
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To: SmithL
Schwarzenegger may be suffering from the high expectations he raised at the outset of his term

Arnie came into office a hard charging conservative Republican, he quickly abandoned that turning into a big spending, big government girlie-man liberal with a life long liberal Democrat for his chief of staff. Now far too late to do much good Arnie is back to being a Republican.

Arnie must think this is a movie, he completely changes his whole being, as if in the make-up chair, from Conservative to Liberal Democrat to Republican in five years. Who will follow or believe a word that comes out of his mouth after such a smorgasbord positions in so short a time?

17 posted on 07/30/2009 4:06:00 PM PDT by RJL
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