Poll Reveals Depth of Voters’ Mistrust

California voters are elaborating, through a new poll, on their grumpy election day message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They’re stressing disdain and distrust of Sacramento -- and aren’t distinguishing much between the governor and Legislature.

The poll finds what everybody suspected: that the governor’s advocacy of his four “reforms” hurt more than it helped. A Schwarzenegger endorsement made voters at least twice as likely to oppose a measure as support it.

The nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 2,002 people who said they voted in the Nov. 8 special election. The telephone interviewing took place for 12 days after the election. Since nobody conducted an exit poll on election day, the PPIC survey represents the first in-depth look at the voters’ attitudes.

“This was a vote of no confidence for state government as a whole,” says PPIC pollster Mark Baldassare.

The poll results should act as another prod on Sacramento politicians as they go through their annual rite of setting grandiose goals for the new year. Normally, these are like New Year’s resolutions that crumble in about two weeks. But Schwarzenegger has been insisting that he got the voters’ message: They want him and lawmakers to civilly cooperate and compromise.

The governor and his staff, which he’s shaking up, currently are heavy into creating a State of the State address and new budget proposal for presentation to the Legislature in early January.

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) jumped ahead of Schwarzenegger last week by outlining an ambitious Democratic agenda for next year.

“A lot of this is up to the governor,” Perata says. “[Currently] he’s much more conciliatory and cooperative. If the governor is willing to work with the Legislature, we’d be fools not to work with him.”

Fools have been in abundant supply at the Capitol in recent years, of course, in both branches of government.

These are some of the things cranky voters told poll interviewers:

* Their esteem for Schwarzenegger suffered because of the special election he called. A couple of reasons: 60% disapprove of how he used the initiative process, and 60% think the election was a “bad idea.” Only 39% approve of his overall job performance; 56% disapprove.

* But the Legislature is even more loathed. A mere 20% approve of its performance; 66% disapprove. Sure, lawmakers always have countered, but voters like their own representatives. Well, not anymore. Just 37% approve of the jobs their local legislators are doing.

* The really “lethal combination” for voters, Baldassare says, is the Schwarzenegger-Legislature duo. A minuscule 14% approve of “the way the Legislature and the governor are working together;” 76% disapprove. “That’s what struck me,” the pollster says. “People have lost trust not just in the Legislature, but the executive branch.” The last time that happened, the people recalled a governor.

* Indeed, 73% “trust the government in Sacramento to do what is right only some of the time.” And 78% believe that “the state government is pretty much run by a few big interests.” That, after all, is the self-defeating message this governor bellowed for more than two years, from the start of the recall campaign to the end of the special election.

Most Capitol politicians, from the governor to the newest legislator, share the public’s frustration about their inability to solve state problems.

Schwarzenegger admits to having been too impatient and mouthy, and -- until voters shouted him down -- he publicly blamed “union bosses.”

Legislative leaders blame the governor for wasting everybody’s time on special election politicking. But they have more deep-rooted, systemic problems. One, especially, is impractical term limits that force legislators to follow the human instinct of always positioning themselves for their next move.

Long-range policy planning and courageous voting tend to interfere with short-term political ambition, especially when lawmakers are plotting to run against each other.

“It’s the biggest wild card,” Perata says. “It is the most overarching issue. It’s pure politics. And pure politics can trump the public good. I don’t have any idea what to do about it.”

What needs to be done is to change term limits to make them longer and more flexible. But that would require a bipartisan sales pitch to a skeptical electorate. And nobody’s holding their breath in the Capitol.

The Senate Democratic agenda outlined by Perata covered issues that voters care most about: a worsening shortage of qualified teachers, a decaying infrastructure, an inadequate public health system and another looming energy crisis.

He cataloged the familiar problems and sketched some equally familiar solutions. “This is nothing fancy,” the Senate leader said. “It’s like blocking and tackling. Back to basics....

“In some cases, this is as simple as going to the freezer and getting the box. These are ideas frozen in time. Let’s pull them out, thaw them out.... We don’t need a lot of discussion. We don’t need a lot of controversy.... Get on with it....

“The public doesn’t want a lot from us: Just stop bickering and work together. Just do something.”

Baldassare notes that the higher-than-expected special election turnout of roughly 50% will provide “the biggest block of voters” in next year’s regular elections.

These voters will be watching and, to paraphrase Schwarzenegger, they’ll be back.

George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.