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Slim Majority of Voters Backs Davis Recall But the poll found that with no Democrat on the ballot to replace Davis, 30% of registered Democrats would simply decline to choose a replacement. That could increase the chance that a Republican would be elected governor if Davis was recalled. In a recall race that included Democrats, the poll found Feinstein winning among registered voters with 25%, followed by Riordan and Schwarzenegger with 11% apiece; Simon with 9%; and seven other candidates at 6% or less, including Issa at 4%. Four percent said they would decline to vote for a replacement. In a recall race with no Democrat on the ballot, Riordan finished first with 21%, followed by Schwarzenegger, 17%; Simon, 10%; Peter Camejo, the Green Party candidate for governor last year, 9%; state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), 6%; and Issa, 3%. In that case, 17% say they would not vote for a Davis replacement. As Davis seeks to redeem himself, he faces a daunting task: Animosity toward him cuts across nearly every voter group. He scores negative job ratings from a majority of men and women; whites, blacks and Latinos; Democrats, Republicans and independents. Even among union members — the heart of his political base — 69% disapprove of his job performance. The signs of hope for the governor had little to do with Davis himself, and more to do with the views of a sizable bloc of voters who are unhappy with him but don't want to throw him out of office. "It's really kind of going against the voters' will, and I'm very sensitive to those sorts of things," said financial analyst Don Petree, 39, a San Luis Obispo County Republican who voted against Davis last year but opposes the recall. "I think it's the wrong path to go down." Retired Silicon Valley sign painter Robert Bagnatori, 81, was among the majority of Democrats against the recall. "He just inherited a mess, that's all," Bagnatori said. "They need a scapegoat, and they're using him. The Republicans just want to take control of California." Some voters are receptive to the governor's argument that it's wasteful in the midst of a fiscal crisis to spend money on a special statewide election in the fall — the timing preferred by recall proponents. The costs could be avoided if the recall was consolidated with the March presidential primary. "We have hungry people, people without jobs, children that need things in the schools," said Los Angeles Democrat Brenda Yates, 53, a special-education aide who is on disability. "Take the money and use it for that instead of setting up a new election." *
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The Times Poll, supervised by polling Director Susan Pinkus, interviewed 1,412 adults statewide, including 1,127 registered voters, from June 28 to July 2. The margin of sampling error for both is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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