By Jack Lee
A study by the Public Policy Institute of California has found California voters woefully ignorant on a number of important subjects regarding their state government.
The poll shows that Californian’s are feeling more relaxed about their state finances from a just a few years ago. Although the state is running more in the red than ever, in fact we’ve added $93 billion in bonds over the past decade and our governor is asking to add another $43.3 billion in bonds. But, when questioned most voters didn’t realize that bonds were actually debt and that the state must pay interest on that debt. The study concluded Californians would probably approve the new debt without much problem, however, 52% polled admitted they didn’t know much about how the state financed debt.
Voters also indicated they would approve a proposed change in term limits, yet 99% couldn’t say what the current term limit is…it’s 14 years. But, when asked if 14 years was about right, most Californians said yes.
The study also concluded that voters know so little about the state budget and the system that it was very difficult to assess proper spending on major programs and/or prioritize the state’s spending. For example barely 32% of voters knew that we spend the most in education or even that the top revenue source was income tax.
Findings were based on a study of 2005 adult residents during May 15th – May 22, 2007.