A vast majority of California voters appear hungry to reform the state’s landmark environmental law to speed up housing and infrastructure projects, according to a newly released poll.
The findings, published Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, come amid wide voter discontent with the price of entry into the state’s notoriously expensive housing market, and as residents feel increasingly squeezed by the cost of everyday essentials.
“The message from California voters is unmistakable: The status quo isn’t working, and we’re all paying the price,” Jennifer Barrera, California Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive, said in a statement about the polling.
The poll also showed Californians have a strong distaste for building data centers for artificial intelligence technology — a hot-button topic that has been the subject of public protests and municipal bans across the state as residents and elected officials weigh the facilities’ potential economic benefits versus their power and water demands.
“Every day, we are hearing about how local communities across the nation are responding to plans for data centers,” said PPIC survey director Mark Baldassare. “Californians have weighed in and they share this growing concern.”
Wide support for Proposition 45
Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents said that they would vote for Proposition 45, a ballot measure to change the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. It would shorten windows for environmental review, public comment and legal challenges for certain housing and infrastructure projects.
Proposition 45 is backed by groups including the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Water Assn. and the California Council for Affordable Housing.
“When it takes years longer than necessary to build affordable housing, clean water infrastructure, hospitals, and clean energy projects, the costs are passed along to families already struggling with California’s high cost of living,” Barrera said. “Prop. 45 is about making California more affordable by cutting unnecessary delays to deliver the essential projects our communities need faster and more affordably.”
The ballot proposition faces opposition from labor and environmental groups. Chris Hannan, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, called it an attempt by CalChamber to “dismantle key protections under California’s landmark environmental law.”
“Undermining the public’s ability to meaningfully participate in project approvals would move our state backward, leaving California facing an unsustainable future of moratoriums, stalled projects, and worsening natural disasters,” he said.
Strong data center opposition
The poll shows overwhelming majorities of Californians do not want new data centers to support the AI boom built in their area; 44% of adults said they “strongly oppose” such projects, and 29% “somewhat oppose” them.
The majority opposition holds across political parties, geographic regions, gender, race and income. It’s especially pronounced in Los Angeles as well as the Inland Empire, where three-quarters of people surveyed said they oppose new data centers.
In Imperial County, plans for a 950,000-square-foot data center recently came to a halt after fierce resident pushback. In June, Monterey Park became the first city in the nation to ban data centers by a popular vote of residents.
Fewer of the electricity- and water-guzzling data centers are planned in California than other parts of the country due in part to the state’s high energy costs and regulatory framework. But Californians’ negative views align with other Americans. A recent Gallup survey found 7 in 10 American adults oppose local construction of AI data centers, including 48% who said they “strongly oppose” them.
The PPIC poll does show opposition is less staunch among some California demographic groups. For example, more than half of white adults strongly oppose data centers, compared to about a third of Asian American and African American adults.
Support for environmental policies — except if they cost more
The poll also shows strong, if somewhat qualified, support for California’s efforts to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment.
Three-quarters of adults said policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been a good thing overall, and 65% said they support California leaders’ efforts to make their own environmental policies separate from the federal government.
While most respondents — 62% — said they favor a law requiring 100% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources within the next two decades, just 38% said they were willing to pay more for electricity sourced from renewables.
“With energy prices spiking and affordability a growing concern, Californians are just not willing to pay more for renewable energy,” Baldassare said. A near-unanimous majority, 96%, said the cost of energy — including gasoline, natural gas and electricity — is a problem.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s move to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035 also appears to have fallen out of favor. Two-thirds of Californians oppose the policy, a significant slip in approval from 2021, when a PPIC survey showed 49% supported it.
Still, majorities of likely voters — 53% and 51%, respectively — said they approve of Newsom’s and the state Legislature’s handling of environmental issues.
At 28%, President Trump’s approval rating on the environment was much lower. In his second term, Trump has moved to slash environmental regulations, including easing pollution regulations on coal-fired power plants and pushing for oil drilling off California’s coast.
“Given this ratings gap, it’s not surprising that Californians want to see the state take the lead on climate change policy,” Baldassare said.
Gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra waves to the crowd after speaking at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in downtown L.A. on Wednesday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Becerra holds big lead in governor race
The survey also showed Democrat Xavier Becerra with a commanding lead over his Republican opponent Steve Hilton in the race to replace the term-limited Newsom. Becerra, a longtime Democratic officeholder, received support from 61% of likely voters, compared with 36% for Hilton, a populist conservative who once advised a British prime minister.
The results are not surprising in a state where Democratic voters significantly outnumber Republicans. The GOP has not won a statewide election since 2008.
Just 2% of likely voters said they were unsure which candidate to support in the November election. The poll results skewed heavily partisan, with more than 9 in 10 Democratic and Republican voters picking their party’s respective candidate. Most independent voters leaned toward Becerra, 60%, over Hilton, 34%.
“Californians got to know Xavier Becerra during the primary, and they’re ready to make him their next governor,” Becerra spokesman Jonathan Underland said in a statement. “We’re keeping our eyes on the prize — hitting the trail every day ’til November to turn that support into votes.”
The results are similar to data from a poll conducted just before the June 2 primary election that asked voters to pick between the two candidates. In that survey, 52% said they supported Becerra and 31% were for Hilton.
Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in L.A. on Wednesday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
In a statement Wednesday, Hilton characterized the race as “wide open,” contending that Becerra’s support was weaker than the poll’s headline figures would indicate.
“Instead of a 36-year career politician, we need a positive, energetic problem-solver with business experience and plans to make our state ‘Califordable’ — that’s me,” Hilton said.
The survey polled 1,578 California adults, 1,003 of whom were likely voters, in English and Spanish from June 29 to July 6 and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points in either direction.
