Both Gambling Measures Failing
With television advertising campaigns intensifying, California voters currently favor two closely watched ballot initiatives -- one authorizing $3 billion in bonds for research using stem cells taken from embryos, and another that would ratify a state law requiring small- and medium-sized businesses to provide health coverage for workers, according to a new Times poll.
By contrast, two initiatives on Indian gambling are trailing by large margins, despite being backed by tens of millions of dollars from Indian tribes and other gambling interests.
Those four are among the highest-profile of 16 measures that voters will be asked to decide Nov. 2.
The poll also found that U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, continues to enjoy a strong lead over her Republican challenger, Bill Jones, among all voters likely to cast ballots in November, 52% to 34% with 11% undecided.
In a measure of the hurdle Jones faces, 42% said they did not know enough about him to have either a favorable or an unfavorable view. About a third of likely voters said they viewed him favorably while about a fifth viewed him unfavorably.
By contrast, Boxer, who is running for her third six-year term, had her highest approval ratings to date in a Times poll, with nearly six in 10 voters saying they approved of the job she was doing.
Among the minor party candidates for the Senate seat -- Libertarian James P. Gray, an Orange County Superior Court judge; Peace and Freedom candidate Marsha Feinland, an Oakland schoolteacher; and American Independent candidate Don J. Grundmann, a chiropractor from San Leandro -- none received more than 1% support. No Green Party candidate is running.
Boxer may be benefiting from a more positive feeling that voters appear to have about the direction of the state and the job performance of elected officials. The voter mood is a sharp contrast to a year ago when then-Gov. Gray Davis faced a recall and more than three-quarters of registered voters said they believed the state was headed in the wrong direction.
Now, 46% of registered voters surveyed said they think the state is headed in the right direction, with 44% saying the state is on the wrong track. Reflecting economic figures that have shown improvement statewide, more than half of those surveyed, 52%, said they believed the state's economy was doing well, compared with 45% who said it was doing somewhat badly or very badly. The finding marked the first time since 2002 that a majority said the economy was doing well.
