Zogby on Schwarzenegger

Zogby has conducted a post-election poll of California voters: Here is some of what it had to say: More damning for Schwarzenegger may be the fact that 43% believe people will be less likely to support an inexperienced celebrity for public office in the future, based on his performance to date. Ouch for Beatty and Reiner. Did Schwarzenegger, whose popularity Zogby polled at 37 percent, bring down his own initiaitves: Indeed, 49% of measure supporters and 44% of measure opponents indicate that the Governor’s support for the measures was “very important” in determining their vote. And that's bad news for an unpopular governor. As for next year... What can be read in the political tea leaves for 2006 coming out of this election? Despite the fact that the defeat on his key measures was viewed as a major defeat for Schwarzenegger, his core constituency may be intact. Among those who voted for all of the reforms, just 2% say the outcome of the balloting makes them less likely to vote for Governor should he run for re-election next year, while 47% are more likely to vote for him and half say it makes no difference. He splits those who voted for some and against other measures, with 22% of this group more likely to vote for him and 25% less likely to do so. Read the full results here.