Schwarzenegger Job Approval at 31 Percent

Only 31 percent of voters in California approve of the job Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing as governor, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state.

 Two-out-of-three voters (66 percent) disapprove of the Republican governor’s job performance.  These figures include five percent who strongly approve and 34 percent who strongly disapprove.

These findings have shown little change since early May 2009.  However, in March 2006, just before Schwarzenegger was reelected for a second term, the governor enjoyed a 53 percent approval rating. 

Seventy percent of voters in the governor’s own party disapprove of his job performance, a view shared by 64 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of voters not affiliated with either political party.

The survey of 750 likely voters in California was conducted on Sept. 20, 2010, by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Schwarzenegger and top lawmakers agreed on a “framework” to tackle the state’s $19 billion budget deficit, which is one of the country’s worst.

Forty-five percent of California voters trust Democrats to handle the issue of the economy more than Republicans.  Forty-two percent place their trust in Republicans to handle this issue, while 13 percent more are not sure.