(The Center Square) – Half of Americans say California is in decline, with more than half of Republicans saying the state isn’t really American, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. Meanwhile, 30% of Democrats say the state is “too liberal,” suggesting a growing number of voters are looking for the state to change course.
With 47% of voters in California registered as Democrats, 24% as Republicans and 29% as no party preference, these new figures could mean in-roads for the state’s Republicans and more moderate Democrats.
“California is a state in freefall,” said Eric Early, the leading Republican contender for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, to The Center Square. “With the highest gas costs and personal income tax, worst public schools, lax criminal laws which have turned California into a Criminal’s Paradise causing people to live in fear of even walking their dogs, [the] highest housing and apartment rental costs … people are voting with their feet. Over 800,000 people moved out last year alone.”