Ballot measures & Bond measures & Proposition 84 & Public opinion 01 Nov 2006 09:32 pm
Proposition 84 struggling
Proposition 84’s biggest obstacle to passing is not negative ads or well-funded opposition (there is no organized opposition). According to a Scripps Howard News article yesterday, it’s that same phenomenon that keeps popping up with all of the bond measures on the ballot: voters see the price tag and shy away, and all of the bond measures cancel one another out.
The article cites the two most recent polls on Proposition 84 (Field Poll and PPIC) to demonstrate that the measure is struggling at anywhere between 40% and 50% support, which is not likely to be a strong enough showing for passage, despite endorsements from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dianne Feinstein, Antonio Villaraigosa, and other heavyweights.
An October 20 article in the Capital Press Agricultural Weekly, an industry newspaper, notes that Proposition 84 would have more support from California agricultural interests if it were more of a water resource measure and less of a parks-and-recreation measure. Nonetheless, the measure would generate an estimated 1 million to 1.2 million acre feet of water statewide, and it would provide $100 million for the restoration of salmon fisheries on the San Joaquin River below Fresno’s Friant Dam.