Executive Summary

In their latest research for the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, in conjunction with American Viewpoint, conducted a survey of 1,515 registered voters in the State of California.

READ THE LA TIMES' STORIES:

• Californians take generally positive view of healthcare reform
• Meg Whitman's deep pockets put her ahead of Jerry Brown

Key Findings

• Voters across California remain deeply pessimistic about the direction the country is heading, and retain a very bleak view of both the current economic environment, and the likelihood that their personal economic fortunes will improve over the next twelve months.
• Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown are locked in a dead heat in the race to be California’s next governor. Whitman’s unprecedented spending has increased her name recognition and image with voters across the state.
• Voters across California are made more likely, not less, to support their Member of Congress or Senator if they voted in favor of the health care reform bill.

Methodology

These findings are based on a random sample survey of 1,515 registered voters in the state of California conducted from March 23-30, 2010. All interviews were done by telephone using live interviewers from ISA Research facility in Van Nuys California. Voters were randomly selected from a list of registered voters statewide and reached on landline or cell phone depending on the number they designated on their voter registration. The percentage of cell phone respondents in this study matches the percentage of those who list their cell phone on the voter file. Bilingual dialers gave respondents the option of taking the survey in English or Spanish. Up to six attempts were made to reach and interview each randomly selected voter. In order to include a wider-range of questions in this study, some batteries of related questions were split into random half-samples of 757 voters each for purposes of time.

Upon completion of the interviewing, the results were weighted slightly to more accurately reflect the total population of registered voters throughout the state. Weighting was done to regional and demographic characteristics according to known census estimates and voter file projections; party registration was weighted to match the most recent 2010 report from the California Secretary of State’s office.

The maximum sampling error for results based on the overall sample of 1,515 registered voters is +/- 2.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error for the findings from each random half-sample of 757 registered voters is +/- 3.6 percentage points.

This survey was conducted for the Los Angeles Times and the University of South California College of Letters, Arts and Sciences by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner in conjunction with American Viewpoint, both based out of Washington, DC.