California voters have grown more anxious and pessimistic about living in California over the past decade, according to findings from the California Chamber of Commerce poll, The People’s Voice, 2024, the 10th in a series of annual surveys of California voters.
A strong majority (55%) say California is heading down the wrong track, continuing their views from a year ago. Voters are even more pessimistic about the national picture, by a 2-to-1 margin, saying the United States is headed down the wrong track.
Asked about the American Dream — that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead — only a third of Californians believe that still holds true, and 54% report that it “once held true, but does not anymore.” Six years ago, a plurality of California voters (49%) believed the dream held true versus 44% who said it did not anymore.
While those numbers have bounced back a little from a year ago, three-quarters of California voters believe that it is easier to achieve the American Dream in a state other than California.
In a disturbing worsening of a 10-year trend, 69% of voters with kids at home agree that “my children would have a better future if they left California,” with more than half of them agreeing strongly with this statement. California’s leaders and communities are not making the case for raising a family in the state.
Economics and crime lay at the base of voter frustration.
Nearly 9 in 10 voters agree with the statement “earning enough income to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle is becoming almost impossible in my part of California,” no matter where in California they live. And a plurality of Californians (46%) report that crime in their area has increased, compared with 44% saying it has stayed about the same.
The recent approval of Proposition 36 to crack down on retail theft is explained by voters’ apprehension about shopping in brick-and-mortar stores:
- 87% of voters have been to a retail store that keeps their products behind locked security cases to prevent items from being shoplifted or stolen.
- 71% of voters have been to a retail store that hired a private security guard to prevent shoplifting and crime.
- 34% of voters in the past year have felt the need to change when or where they shop because of feeling unsafe or uncomfortable.
Tomorrow we’ll report on voters’ opinions on remaining in California.
Methodology
The CalChamber poll was conducted by Bold Decision and Pierrepont Consulting & Analytics with online interviews from November 6–9, 2024, with 1,014 online interviews of California 2024 general election voters. The margin of error for this study is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level. This is the 10th year CalChamber has published The People’s Voice survey.
Contact: Loren Kaye
