Due to his pandering and installing the Gropenator....
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/w/walker/04/walker011504.htmThe Field Poll released today should send shivers down the spines of Democrat Party nabobs. If George W. Bush carries California, the presidential election is over. California has fifty-five electoral votes, more than enough to offset the loss of Florida, Ohio and West Virginia, so if everything else broke the Democrat way, President Bush would still win reelection.
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President Bush has made a consistent and emphatic effort to persuade Mexican-Americans that he is sympathetic to them. This work has included visiting Mexican President Fox very early in the Bush Presidency and recently was reiterated by another meeting with President Fox. Although the outreach to Hispanics could be important in states like New Mexico and Arizona, the principal effect, if it worked, would be to make California Republican again. Now it looks like the Bush Gamble has paid off. The Field Poll released January 14, 2004 shows that 52% of Californians approve of how President Bush is handling his job and that 42% disapprove. Other very recent polls show President Bush running far ahead of Howard Dean in California. No Democrat runs well right now against Bush in California.
In the mad dash to find the angriest Democrat around - and also to find some Democrat who might be able to chip away at Republican support in the South - Democrats seem to have simply assumed that California would stay as staunchly Democrat as, say, New Jersey. California, however, has been a very volitile state.
What happened between the September poll and January poll? His very high support among Republicans actually dropped from 83% to 82%. His support among Independents rose seven points, not bad news but certainly nothing dramatic. The big swing was a jump of ten percentage points among Democrats, as his disapproval dropped an even bigger 13 points. Gaining 10 points in approval and losing points in disapproval is a huge net swing.