Posted on 06/29/2006 11:41:46 AM PDT by TexasTaysor
Among conservatives, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s approval stands in sharp contrast to that of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The two big-state governors have many issues to address, and respondents to GOPUSA’s recent survey said they like the direction Texas is going, but California is an entirely different matter.
According to last weekend’s survey (view full survey results here) conducted by GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team, Gov. Rick Perry has a 68% approval rating among Texas respondents with 23% saying they are very satisfied with the job he is doing and 45% saying they are somewhat satisfied. In contrast, California respondents to the survey gave Gov. Schwarzenegger an approval rating of 52% with only 10% saying they are very satisfied with the job he is doing and 42% saying they are somewhat satisfied.
In Texas, 43% of respondents feel that the country is moving in the right direction, while 52% feel the state is moving in the right direction. In California, 38% feel that the country is moving in the right direction, while only 20% feel the state is moving in the right direction. 29% of Texas respondents feel their state is moving in the wrong direction, while 69% of the California respondents feel the same way about their state.
Respondents from both states share a pessimism for the outlook of 2006 elections. When asked, “What are your feelings about Republican prospects for success in the 2006 elections?”, 57% of Texas respondents were either somewhat or very worried. 59% of California respondents were either somewhat or very worried.
On the issues, respondents from both states ranked border security/immigration the #1 issue facing America: 53% of Texas respondents and 56% of California respondents. When asked to list the top issue facing their state, respondents again picked border security/immigration, but this time in higher numbers: 69% of Texas respondents and 63% of California respondents.
An interesting contrast emerges on the question of listing the top priority of the Republican Party. In Texas, the top response was “holding elected Republican officials accountable to the platform and their campaign promises” with 44% followed by “crafting a clear, unifying message to combat the Democrats and the media” with 33%. In California, the results were closer with 36% choosing “unified message” and 35% choosing “accountability.”
One thing seems to be clear from looking at the survey results as a whole: even looking at red states, so much of the sentiments of voters are driven by national issues and their feelings toward the national Republican leadership. With so much at stake at the state level, the national Republican leaders must get their act together and actually lead!
At the state level, an election strategy which focuses on state success seems to be critical. State Republicans cannot allow polls on the president and Congress to water down successes at the state level. That message must get out. All politics is local, and now, that message is more important than ever.
Hey, our Gov. Arnold will be the first in history, 1st to be elected by Republicans and a second time by democrats.
He will be the first republican dem's have voted for here in a long time.
I voted for Arnold in the recall election, but he's clearly been out of his depth; he's a political amateur, and worse, he's an amateur with no real vision or core values.
He spends too much time around the Kennedys. I am very disappointed in him.
Texas resident here....Rick Perry has done virtually Zilch to shore up the Texas border with Mexico. The budget surplus is 8 billion but a $1 cigarette tax was foisted on us that Perry signed. He is a pretty boy version of Jeb Bush in my opinion....conservative light at best. Better than a Lib Dem though fer sure fer sure.
Ditto that.
I've pretty much thought the same about Perry. I made a comment about the borders and Perry several days ago and someone responded with all that Perry is doing on the border and he seemed pretty unhappy with my attitude. He said that it's not the states job to take care of the border, only the feds can.
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