California: Public Policy Institute Of California

The headlines from the new Public Policy Institute of California poll will emphasize that five of the six measures (everything but 1F, the populist blast on legislative pay, which has a huge lead) on the May 19 special election ballot are in a deep trouble. But a look at the PPIC numbers suggests there’s reason to believe that all six could pass.

Propositions 1D and 1E are in the best position of the five troubled measures. They have leads, though neither measure has 50 percent support. That has a good chance of changing when Republicans learn more about the measures. Right now, Republicans oppose measures to take away spending from these programs. Since Republicans tended to oppose the initiatives (Prop 10 and Prop 63) that created these programs, it’s likely that when they learn the history, enough Republicans will support these measures to get them over the line.

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As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators wrangled over how to close a huge state budget deficit earlier this month, both he and lawmakers saw their approval ratings among Californians drop sharply, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found.

Schwarzenegger's rating dropped from 40 percent in January to 34 percent among registered voters in the poll that was concluded Feb. 17, two days before he and legislators made a final deal on the budget. The Legislature's approval, meanwhile, dropped to 18 percent among registered voters and 14 percent among likely voters.

Those low numbers stood in sharp contrast with President Barack Obama's 67 percent approval among registered voters, including a plurality of Republicans and 53 percent of those who labeled themselves as conservatives.

Anyone who doesn’t think there are political implications for Republicans who support the deal reached by legislative leaders last week, just talk to Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno.

After months of negotiation, Cogdill’s decision to go along with a budget package that included more than $14 billion in tax increases cost the Fresno Republican his leadership post. In the Assembly, Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, made a motion over the weekend to strip that house’s Republican leader, Mike Villines, R-Clovis, at the urging of conservative radio shock jocks John and Ken.

The political shock waves from the budget stand-off, still ongoing as of this writing, are being felt throughout Republican California. And as the party faithful prepare to gather in Sacramento this weekend, some are out for blood.

Beginning next week, state Controller John Chiang has said he will begin issuing IOUs. And Thursday's court decision to allow furloughs means next Friday could be a mass day without work for the state's workforce.

Rightfully so, the focus in the Capitol has been all budget, all the time.

But today marks a different deadline under the dome. It's the last day for lawmakers to submit bill requests to the Office of the Legislative Counsel -- the Legislature's lawyers who draft the bills.

Meanwhile, the California Republican Party is headed to Arizona.

No, the state GOP hasn't given up on the Golden State. But the Republican Party hosts a fundraiser in Scottsdale, Ariz.