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Voters favor Davis ouster
The nonpartisan Field Poll released Tuesday found likely California voters would recall Davis, 51 percent to 43 percent, with 6 percent undecided.
While Davis remains remarkably unpopular, however, the poll found that some recall supporters were willing to change their minds if state lawmakers end their budget standoff in the next few weeks or if a recall ballot offers no Democratic choices.
Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said voters' inclination to remove Davis could change significantly depending on who does -- or doesn't -- ultimately run as an alternative.
"You can't really make a solid estimation of how Davis is going to do in this election until you know who the alternatives are going to be," DiCamillo said. "The decision about one is going to affect the other."
The poll also found that neither of the two most popular potential Republican candidates, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, respectively, enjoys substantial support.
Only 4 percent of likely voters picked U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a wealthy Southern California Republican and chief financier of the recall campaign, as their first replacement choice, making him the least popular among five GOP options and a Green candidate.
The poll, conducted July 1-13, included the Field organization's first measure of likely voters' support for the recall since a campaign to oust Davis was announced by anti-tax and Republican activists in February.
Elections officials are now trying to determine if proponents have collected the 897,158 valid voter signatures needed to trigger a recall election. It would be the first against a governor in California history.
Mara Armstrong, 56, a Democrat and property manager from Bakersfield, opposes the idea. She called Davis "inept" but said, "I don't think he's dishonest."
If she had to pick a backup candidate, she's inclined to go with Schwarzenegger.
"I don't care about he's hunky," she said. "But I like the things I see that he's done for his community. And I'd just as soon take a chance on someone who isn't a political animal than on any of the other choices."
John Howard, an 86-year-old Republican retiree from Exeter, supports the recall and blames Davis for failing to manage an out-of-control state budget.
"Personally, I think it should be easier than it is to recall someone," he said. "Anyone can get up on the stand and tell a lot of baloney. But when we find out it is baloney, we ought to be able to do something about it."
Howard said Riordan is his top replacement choice because of his experience and reputation as a social moderate.
"Riordan has a better possibility of doing good than the others," he said.
Two-thirds of likely voters agreed with the idea that recall was "a legitimate way for voters to express their displeasure with Davis' poor performance."
More than half felt Davis misled voters about the scope of state budget problems in last year's re-election campaign.
Still, two-thirds doubted that recalling Davis would make it any easier to close a state budget shortfall of $38.2 billion.
And what worried voters most about a recall was that in a plurality contest, the replacement could be a fringe candidate.
Davis supporters took comfort in the fact that only a slim majority supports the recall effort.
"Already half don't think the recall is a good idea," Davis adviser Roger Salazar said. "As soon as you tell people the truth about who's really behind this effort, that
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