Perot’s Popularity Slides in California : Survey: The Times Poll shows his appeal has fallen below that of President Bush. His favorable rating is now at 25%, down from 48% in May.

Ross Perot will find California’s political climate much less hospitable now than last spring, when his potential candidacy first blossomed, a recent Los Angeles Times Poll shows.

Perot’s stature has wilted in the nation’s largest state, and he now is less popular than President Bush. Only 25% of those surveyed had a favorable impression of the Texas billionaire. More than twice as many, 53%, had an unfavorable impression. In May, the figures were dramatically reversed: 48% favorable, 14% unfavorable.

Also in the May survey by The Times Poll, Perot led Democrat Bill Clinton by 13 percentage points and Bush by 14. But in a Sept. 10-13 statewide poll, Perot trailed Clinton by 32 points and Bush by 11. Only roughly 2 in 5 of his previous supporters were still with him.

The totals, as previously reported, were Clinton 49%, Bush 28%, and Perot 17%, with 5% undecided and 1% for somebody else.

In California, as elsewhere in the country, the maverick independent lost credibility after quitting the race in July.

“I’ve got a real problem with somebody who lets everybody believe he’s going to run, gets everybody gung-ho, then backs out,” said Eileen Diller, 38, a school cafeteria worker in Thousand Palms. “I want to make a commitment to a candidate who will make a commitment to me.”

Diller, a Democrat who was interviewed by The Times Poll and agreed to talk to a reporter, said that at one point she “was really enthusiastic” about Perot but now plans to vote for Clinton.

Said Republican Bob Gescheidle, 31, a sales manager in Pleasanton: “There’s just something about a quitter. Emotionally, I got a little blindsided by his quitting. I’d have to see something in the next three to four weeks to get me back with him. At this point, I’ll probably vote for Bush.”

Larry Legrand, 33, a Mar Vista floor covering contractor, said he had been a strong backer of Perot. “I’ll take another look at him, but I’m not going to just automatically throw my support to him. . . I’d like to hear what he has to say about the deficit.” Legrand is a Republican who will vote for Clinton if not for Perot, he said.

Like Legrand, Perot’s followers generally are more concerned about the federal deficit than is the California electorate as a whole, the poll found.

But Perot’s supporters are spread rather uniformly across the demographic spectrum. He gets a little extra boost from those with less education, Southern Californians who live outside of Los Angeles County, political moderates and independents. Since spring, his support has dropped, especially among people who are Anglo, middle-age, upper income, better educated and live in the suburbs--groups among the most likely to vote.

What relatively little support Perot still has also is “soft.” Whereas roughly 9 in 10 Clinton supporters and 8 in 10 Bush backers said they are “certain” to vote for their candidate, only slightly over half of Perot’s followers are similarly committed. The Perot waverers tended to favor Clinton over Bush.

Likewise, people who parted company with Perot in the summer tended to line up with Clinton more than Bush, interviews showed. But Perot may have little impact on which candidate ultimately wins California’s big bloc of electoral votes, the survey indicated.

“In order for Perot to seriously affect the election, two things have to be true,” said Times Poll Director John Brennan. “First, the race between Bush and Clinton has to be fairly close. Second, the Perot vote has to ‘cut’--that is, pull substantially more from one man than the other. Right now, neither of those things seem true in California.”

The Times Poll interviewed 1,330 registered voters by telephone. The margin of error was 3 percentage points in either direction.