California's Controversial Recall

Many Americans think the imminent 'recall election' in California shows the state in a bad light, according to a recent Harris Poll. However, as most email users / spam recipients worldwide are probably aware, there is little chance of the election remaining remotely low key with Arnold Schwarzenegger standing against incumbent Gray Davies.

The poll suggests that a majority of people (63%) are either very or somewhat familiar with the approach of the recall election, and they are divided on most of the issues covered by Harris. Two fifths of all adults think that the recall election is a good idea (40%) and a very similar proportion (39%) think it is a bad idea for California. A third (32%) of all adults say they would vote for Schwarzenegger if he were running in their state, and slightly fewer (27%) that they would vote against him.

Perhaps surprisingly, 19% of respondents feel that a career as a movie star does provide the appropriate training for a career in politics, with a similar proportion unsure. Presumably some of the support for this notion derives from disillusionment with other presidential / political backgrounds (lawyers, career politicians...) - they may feel it is 'as good a training as any'. In any case, 64% disagree.

Three quarters of adults like Arnold Schwarzenegger 'a great deal' (25%) or at least 'a fair amount' (49%) as a movie star. Only 5% express strong dislike. There are substantial differences between the replies of Republicans and Democrats - the former are much more likely to think that the California recall election is a good idea (57%) and are more likely to say they would vote for Schwarzenegger (43%).

Whatever their views about the election process and the challengers, very few people express strong support for Governor Davis. Only 1% say he is doing an 'excellent' job as governor of California and a further 17% 'pretty good', while 29% rate him 'poor' and 30% 'only fair'. Unsurprisingly, almost a quarter of all adults do not have an opinion.

The election is set for 7th October and Arnie is in good company - the complete list of 135 candidates on the California Secretary of State's Web site includes one other listing his occupation as 'actor' and one 'Adult Film Actress'; also a 'tribal chairman', a 'prizefighter' and a sumo wrestler. Schwarzenegger also lists himself as a 'businessman' [so presumably he still hasn't told Jamie Lee Curtis the truth - Ed.]

The Harris Poll(r) was conducted by Harris Interactive (r), by telephone within the US between August 12 and 17 among a nationwide cross section of 1,011 adults (ages 18+).

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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