Californians don’t like the direction their state and the nation are heading. But they like the Democratic leaders in charge: Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden. Does that make any sense?

Look, if you don’t like the way things are going, wouldn’t you want someone else at the helm? Maybe try out for a Republican?

It seems ironic. But it makes perfect sense.

For most Californians, a Republican alternative is simply unacceptable on its face.

They will live with the homelessness they would rather live with than vote Republican. That’s how bad the Republican brand is, says Mike Madrid, a veteran Republican strategist who criticized the party for not doing enough to attract Latinos.

Polls show that voters are not happy. They worry about crime. Homelessness is off the charts. But they still don’t vote for Republicans.

The Governor of California and all other elected officials

elated

Statewide, the officeholder is a Democrat and has served for 12 years. Democrats hold supermajorities in both legislative houses. They hold both seats in the U.S. Senate and dominate California’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation, 40-12.

Mayors are officially nonpartisan, but eight of them in California’s 10 largest cities are Democrats. The two Republican exceptions are in the San Joaquin Valley: Fresno and Bakersfield.

It’s a matter of alternatives for Democrats, said Mark Baldassare, chief research officer at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

This is the definition of polarization. It’s not so much that voters like their party. They just don’t like the other party. And they won’t change their minds about who they support

That’s the context for the 24th election, whether you like it or not.

Polarization means Republicans have no prayer in statewide races. Democrats outnumber Democrats almost 2 to 1. There are almost as many independents who have no party preference as Republicans, and they lean toward Democratic candidates.

The PPIC recently released a statewide poll that found a lot of negativity among voters about California and the nation.

According to 54% of voters surveyed, California is heading in the wrong direction. Democrats disagree. 69% think the state is moving in the right direction. But 92% of Republicans and 63% of independents answered incorrectly.

Still, 56% of voters statewide approve of Newsom’s handling of his job, especially among Democrats, but also among independents.

Voters are much grumpier about the country’s direction; 72% say the country is on the wrong track.

But 53% approve of Biden’s job performance. And voters overwhelmingly prefer Biden to the former president

Donald

Trump in a hypothetical 2024 presidential race, 57% to 26%.

Voters are especially grumpy about Congress,

of

81% disapproval of the performance.

Voters’ bad mood is related to the economy, Baldassare says. It’s not like people worry so much about their jobs. They are concerned about their standard of living. How do they calibrate the prices of things, big and small. There is a lot of fear about inflation.

Voters consider the economy number one. One problem California faces, the poll found.

A large majority, especially Republicans, expect bad times in the next twelve months. And 72% feel less comfortable making a major purchase, such as a car or a house, than they did six months ago.

Homelessness and housing costs are number 1.

Nos.

2 and 3 on the electoral roll of most important state issues.

But they are also pessimistic about other things.

About 6 in 10 are dissatisfied with the way democracy works in the country. Voters of all political persuasions feel this way.

And nearly 9 in 10 overwhelmingly believe there is a mental health crisis in the U.S.

Two things hurting the Republican Party in California are the parties’ hardline positions on immigration and abortion. Republican voters have completely different views than Democrats or independents.

Two-thirds of likely voters, and overwhelmingly Democrats and independents, believe immigration is a good thing for the country. But not the Republicans: six in ten think it is a bad thing.

A sore point for Californians is the actions of the governors of Texas and Florida in transporting hundreds of undocumented immigrants here and dumping them on our streets. More than three-quarters of voters disagree, including 63% of Republicans.

Could that hurt Florida’s governor? Ron DeSantis as he takes on Trump in California’s presidential primaries in March?

I think so, says Baldassare. It doesn’t seem to be something that is creating positive sentiment among Republicans in this state.

On abortion, 92% of Democrats say and 76% of Independents are decrying last year’s Supreme Court ruling that ended a woman’s constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy anywhere in America. But 65% of Republicans approve of the decision, which has hurt Republican candidates in many states.

In California, the Republican Party refuses to move to the center and conform to the views of most voters. So they are not in charge.

Veteran Democratic strategist Darry Sragow believes there are more reasons for voters’ poor mood than the usual suspicions: the economy, homelessness, taxes and the like.

I am very concerned that our elected officials are messing around while the place burns down. Politicians are stuck on things that don’t matter to voters, says Sragow, who publishes the California Target Book, which chronicles electoral races.

What underlies the frustration and anger is very simple. The entire world is changing at a speed that causes whiplash. There is a cataclysmic change taking place in the way we live our daily lives. Technological innovations change the labor market, where we work, how we transport ourselves, how we shop

Voters simply don’t see anyone in public life articulating a credible way for us to get through this together.

Someone is taking us in the right direction.