As California’s Nov. 8 special election approached, the fortunes of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pro-corporate agenda were continuing to slip.
In good news for labor and community groups opposing the governor’s ballot measures, support for Prop. 75 to curb public workers’ political action has dropped. A Field California Poll released Nov. 1 found support had plummeted to 40 percent of likely voters, down from 55 percent in late August, while 50 percent planned to vote “no.”
The multi-union Alliance for a Better California stepped up its campaign to defeat the measure, fielding ever-growing teams of phone-bankers and precinct-walkers to increase the “no” vote.
Prop. 75 would force unions representing any public workers to get written permission yearly from every member for their dues money to be used for political action, while leaving the giant corporations free of any restraint.
Three other ballot measures backed by Schwarzenegger have always been in trouble. The Field poll found Prop. 76, which would let the governor cut spending arbitrarily, opposed by 60 percent of likely voters and backed by only 32 percent. Prop. 74, to make teachers wait five years for permanent status and make it easier to fire even permanent teachers, was opposed by a margin of 50-44 percent. Prop. 77, to shift responsibility for redistricting legislative and congressional districts to a panel of retired judges, was opposed 51-35 percent.
Prop. 73, to require doctors to notify parents when a minor seeks an abortion, is also backed by the governor. A Public Policy Institute poll released last week said it too was losing, 48-42 percent.
That poll also put Schwarzenegger’s own approval rating at a measly 33 percent. The Field Poll found “that in each of the poll’s final two interviewing periods, Schwarzenegger is having a more negative than positive impact on voters in regard to each proposition’s chances of passage.”
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