7 in 10 Californians Support Higher Taxes to Help Schools

Californians, feeling more financially secure and personally safe than they have in years but still worried about the state’s beleaguered education system, strongly support both increasing taxes and using the state budget surplus to improve the schools, a new Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Seven of 10 Californians support higher taxes to build new schools, the poll found, and nearly half say schools should benefit from the state’s budget surplus. But Californians are not keen on giving away the store: They reject raising taxes to construct more prisons or improve highways.

Nearly three of four Californians say the economy here is “robust”--the highest percentage recorded in the eight years the poll has asked the question. More than eight of 10 say they feel safe in their neighborhoods.

Those sentiments have helped to defuse crime and the economy as potent political issues and to direct even more attention toward education, the poll found.

The economic optimism has burnished Californians’ regard for the state’s senior politicians and the Legislature, the poll showed.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, is in comfortable shape as she heads into next year’s reelection campaign. Buoyed by Californians’ unstinting support for stronger gun control--which she has championed in Washington--Feinstein has the backing of 56% of voters asked about the upcoming Senate race. Even a third of Republicans say they are likely to vote for her, although that may be premature given the current absence of a big-name GOP challenger.

“Californians are feeling pretty good about the state,” said Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus. “They feel the economy is in good shape, crime is down in their neighborhoods, and thus they are focusing on other important issues, such as education.”

The Times Poll surveyed 1,602 Californians, including 1,179 registered voters, by telephone from June 10 to June 14. The margin of sampling error is 3 points in either direction, with larger margins for subgroups.

The benefits of the rising economic tide were most evident when it came to the regard that Californians have for the Legislature, often a starkly negative barometer of public satisfaction with government.

In the survey, nearly half of Californians said they approve of how the Legislature is doing its job. That figure represented another step in a consistent upward trend for lawmakers, whose approval rating plummeted to 13% in 1992 when the state’s budget was held up for months in a dispute between legislators and then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

Every demographic group now gives the governing body a positive rating, though the margin of approval over disapproval ranges from a bountiful net of 29 points among Democrats to 9 points among Republicans. Still, it is noteworthy that Republicans approve of a Legislature fully in Democratic hands.

With six months in office under his belt, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis is faring well, with 54% of all voters approving of the way he is doing his job, compared to 17% who disapprove. While he ran strongest among his fellow Democrats, with a 62%-12% rating, he carried Republicans by 49%-20% and conservatives by a 46%-18% margin.

The finding puts Davis in the same overall approval territory as President Clinton, who has always been popular in California. Clinton won approval from 57% of voters in the poll.

Davis has three years to go before the next gubernatorial election, but for Feinstein the voters’ mood is of immediate concern. At this point, 52% of Californians approve of her handling of the job, compared to 26% who do not. That is virtually the same as her historic high of 54% in 1997, when 29% disapproved of her.

The verdict on Feinstein falls largely along party lines, with Democrats backing her 70% to 15% and Republicans disapproving, 49% to 37%. But she held onto the increasingly potent independent voters, 44% to 28%, and carried the moderates whose fickle alliances can dictate elections, 55% to 21%.

Feinstein’s outspoken and lengthy support for a ban on assault weapons--among other anti-gun measures--has proven hugely beneficial to her chances of holding on to her seat, the poll showed.

Asked whether her support for an assault weapons ban would make it more likely or less likely that they would vote for her, half of registered voters say they are more likely and only about a fifth say they are less likely to do so.

Republicans are split on the issue, but even that could be considered a victory for Feinstein, given the GOP’s opposition to most gun control measures. The assault weapons ban also won Feinstein support among conservatives, with one-third saying they are more likely to vote for her because of her views on that issue and one-fourth saying they are less likely.

Democrats, Republicans and independents all are more likely to support Feinstein now because of her assault weapons stance than they were in October 1994, when a similar question was asked. That, Pinkus said, indicates that even those ideologically opposed to gun control have been swayed by highly publicized shootings like the recent Littleton, Colo., high school massacre.

In this survey, 78% of Californians support an assault weapons ban, up 7 points from a poll in 1995. And 72% of Republicans support a ban, up 9 points from 1995. In the current poll, nearly six of 10 Republicans characterize their support of such a ban as “strong.”

“Feinstein goes into the reelection with gun control as one of her biggest campaign weapons,” Pinkus said.

On another front, however, Feinstein’s opposition to the impeachment of President Clinton is paying her no dividends, even in this historically pro-Clinton state. Essentially, the issue is a wash, with 16% of registered voters saying they are more likely to vote for her because of her position, and 19% saying they are less likely. Those numbers are reversed among women, and there is a slight drag among male voters, with 14% saying they are more likely and 22% saying they are less likely to vote for her.

Feinstein, like other state politicians, was boosted by economy-induced optimism--and on that front it was hard to find bad news.

Slightly more than half--52%--of Californians feel that the state is on the right track, while a smaller 34% feel that it is going in the wrong direction. To varying degrees, most subgroups share that sentiment.

Optimism blossomed further when respondents were asked about the economy itself. A record-breaking 72% call it “robust,” a nearly 3-1 edge over the quarter of Californians who feel that it is “shaky.”

By almost precisely the same ratios, Californians say their personal finances are secure. And nearly half say they are better off financially than they were five years ago. Only 19% said they were worse off.

The economic optimism extends to people’s views of their prospects for climbing the economic ladder.

Overall, 2% of the respondents say they are upper class, 16% say they are upper middle class, 45% say they are middle class, 30% call themselves working class and 5% say they are lower class. Of those who describe themselves as lower or working class, nearly three of five say their prospects for moving up are good, while a significant but still smaller 37% say the odds are bad. Similarly, most Californians say they agreed with the notion that anyone who works hard can get ahead.

But the attitude toward one’s prospects differs sharply depending on income.

Of those in households making less than $20,000 annually, a bare majority of 53% say the economy is robust, compared to 82% among those living in homes with an income of more than $60,000.

The less affluent were less sanguine about the chances of moving up the economic ladder. Only 47% of those in households earning $20,000 or less said their odds were good, compared to a loftier 73% of those in households making $40,000 to $60,000 annually.

The strong economy and the fact that 83% of Californians feel safe at home--up 8 points from 1994--have hastened the demise of the two issues that defined California politics earlier in this decade--crime and jobs. Education, at this point, is the biggest fish in the issue tank.

That is reinforced time and again in the poll. When asked a series of questions that focused on views about raising taxes for specific purposes, 71% say they back higher taxes to build new schools. The view is consistent across the board.

But Californians reject raising taxes to construct more prisons (29% say yes, 65% say no) or to improve highways (36% say yes, 59% no.)

In a finding that suggests that concern over schools is part of a broader worry about opportunities for children, Californians are more supportive of using taxes to create new parks than to build prisons or highways. Still, only 46% say yes, 25 points below the level of support for building new schools, and 49% say no.

Education also came strongly to the fore when residents were asked how the state should spend its multibillion-dollar surplus. Nearly half--48%--want to use it to improve schools; that option is favored by all ideologies. Fourteen percent want a tax refund, 10% would like to improve the inner cities and 9% want to put more police on the street--a telling confirmation that people feel safer than they had in the past.

Crime and the economy may have been defused as issues, but two others that dominated elections earlier in the 1990s are still kicking around, the poll showed.

Nine years after term limits were approved by voters, 70% of Californians, and 73% of registered voters, say they support limits on legislative service, and only one-fifth of each group oppose them. By about the same percentages, Californians say the limits are good because they drummed out career politicians. And they disagree with critics’ contentions that new members are too naive to maneuver in the halls of power in Sacramento.

Illegal immigration, which burst into political prominence in California in 1994, remains a potent issue, although the immediate emotion that embroiled partisans on both sides has subsided. Proposition 187, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters that year, was designed to cut off services to illegal immigrants, but the impact largely has been muted by court stays. Davis recently asked an appeals court to resolve the measure’s constitutionality through closed-door mediation.

In all, 60% of registered voters say they approve of Proposition 187, with 35% opposed. When asked the biggest problems facing the state, 12% of voters say illegal immigration, well below the 38% of voters who said education, but virtually tied with crime at 14%.

Additionally, while 48% of Californians say cultural diversity improves America, a substantial three in 10 say it threatens the nation. And fully 45% of Californians say they want to prohibit illegal immigrants from attending public schools--a commentary on the strains that Californians perceive on the schools, but a verdict inextricably intertwined with the emotion of race relations as well.

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Moving Ahead

Californians feel satisfied with the way the state is heading, and this has helped the Legislature and other elected officials garner positive job ratings. Also, gun control has become a potent issue, and this helps Sen. Dianne Feinstein in her bid for reelection next year.

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,602 adults statewide, including 1,179 registered voters, by telephone June 10 to June 14. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the state. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for gender, race, age, education, region and voter registration. The margin of sampling error for the entire sample and for registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish.