Fiscal Conservative Jerry Brown’s Solid Approval Rating May Not Become Votes
Effective fiscal conservatives get my vote. That means Jerry Brown for me. The GOP has no one in sight that looks as good.
SACRAMENTO — Jerry Brown may be the state’s longest-serving governor, with a political resume that spans six decades, but California voters are ambivalent about the 75-year-old Democrat.
More than half of those surveyed in a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll say they approve of the job Brown is doing as governor — the highest rating since he retook the governor’s office in 2011. Yet only 32% say they are inclined to vote for Brown if he seeks an unprecedented fourth term as California’s chief executive next year.
“Brown has made less effort to establish a public and media presence in California than any governor in almost a quarter century,” said Dan Schnur, director of USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. “Because Brown has maintained such a relatively low profile, voters don’t have strong feelings about him.”Independent voters are also of two minds about Brown. Among those without a party preference, 55% approve of Brown’s job performance, compared to 28% who disapprove. But just 26% of those voters say they’d cast a ballot for Brown, compared to 33% who say they’d probably or definitely vote for somebody else.
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