He's just not the right spokesman when it comes to communicating with Democrats and independents right now. That's contrasted with a year ago when he was considered a very credible spokesman and had very high approval ratings. |
His recent statements and policy positions make it look like he's trying to cut into the Democrats' advantage among coastal voters. However, others are trying to get him to backtrack to shore up support among his Republican base. How he ends up resolving this will probably be the major strategic decision facing his re-election campaign. |
I really think he's down to his base. It's hard for a politician to get below the 30 percent range. That would mean your own supporters are jumping ship. |
I see real problems for the governor. |
I think it's a two-step process and it looks like he's successfully getting people over in terms of step one to the undecided column. But there's a segment of voters who are withholding judgment. They know who Schwarzenegger is, but they are not sure. |
I think there has been an overarching re-evaluation of Bush among some members of his own party. |
I think you will see a bigger than expected turnout among Latinos because of this one issue. |
I would say that (the death penalty) is sort of like other hot button issues in California like abortion. |
I would suspect his tone would change significantly if they don't make it onto the November ballot. If that happened, I could see calling the Legislature all sorts of names by the end of the campaign. |
I've never seen a proposition start out this far behind and pass. It's monumental the amount of work (the governor) needs to do on this one. |
If he granted clemency, I would say, it would be a very divisive opinion. Large segments of the public would take him to task. |
If the opponents keep hammering away on that, it's hard to imagine a scenario where this thing turns around. |
In late 1993, (Wilson) was at 31 percent, which is even lower than the governor's numbers today, ... He went on to win by 10 points in 1994. There was a lot of grumbling about Pete Wilson, but he was able to distinguish himself from (Democratic candidate) Kathleen Brown, latched onto illegal immigration as an issue and it propelled him to victory. The quality of the campaign, the way candidates raise the salience of issues - all those things matter. |
It is a modest improvement. But it is moving in the right direction. |
It wasn't meant to be a partisan reform initiative, but it is clearly perceived that way and I think that has to do with the governor. |