It says something about the gloomy mood of the state when California voters are looking back wistfully to those good old days when Gray Davis was in office.
A Field Poll released Sunday showed that 59 percent of the state’s voters – including more than half the Republicans – are convinced that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will leave the state in worse condition than it was when he took office.
Consider that breathtaking statistic for a minute. Schwarzenegger was elected in October 2003, after 55 percent of the state’s voters decided Davis was doing such a lousy job that he should be the first governor in the history of California to be ousted from office.
Heck, Davis was the first governor anywhere in the country to be recalled since North Dakota voters bounced their governor in 1921.
But today, an even larger percentage of voters are convinced that times were better with Davis in the governor’s office than they are now, with Schwarzenegger running the state.
Speaking to the Sacramento Press Club Monday, Schwarzenegger admitted that one of the reasons for his skidding popularity is that when it comes to the problems of the state, things haven’t changed nearly enough since he became governor.
“I think people have a right to be angry,” he said. “I don’t blame them … the people are frustrated that things aren’t changing quickly enough.”
And his solution?
“It’s time for us to really work hard and for Democrats and Republicans to get together and get the job done,” Schwarzenegger said.
Nice idea, but that hard work and bipartisan cooperation is something the governor has been pleading for since the day he was elected, without much success.
There’s plenty of blame to share when it comes to California’s current glut of problems.
When the nation’s economy is in the tank, a state as large as California is always going to feel the pain. And, yes, the state should be getting a bigger chunk of federal funds, even if it’s not near the amount the governor says the state is owed.
Then there’s the Legislature, where warring Democrats and Republicans often seem more interested in scoring political points than in dealing seriously with California’s many problems. In that new Field Poll, only 16 percent of voters are happy with the job the Legislature is doing, even lower than Schwarzenegger’s dismal 27 percent popularity.
But, fair or not, voters see the governor as the public face of California, which means he gets too much credit when times are good and too much blame when things go bad. In 2003, it was Davis who was the focus of the voters’ ire. Now it’s Schwarzenegger’s turn.
When a jubilant Schwarzenegger took the stage in the ballroom of the Century Plaza Hotel on election night in 2003, he thanked voters for the trust they had shown in him and promised that “together we can do great things.”
“I will not fail you,” Schwarzenegger said. “I will not disappoint you. And I will not let you down.”
That’s not the way Californians see it today. And they’re making their feelings known.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.