Nearly 75 percent of California voters support tougher crime ballot measure despite opposition from leading Democrats: poll

A large majority of California voters support a tougher crime ballot measure – despite opposition from the state's leading Democrats, including Gov. Newsom, new polls show, as crime has emerged as a key campaign issue in the Golden State.

The poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 73 percent of likely voters plan to vote for the measure called Proposition 36, which would increase penalties for repeat retail thefts, robbery offenses and drug offenses. Only 25 percent of likely voters said they would vote against it.

Proposition 36 is on the ballot as crime is a major problem nationwide and communities across the country are reconsidering criminal justice reforms that mitigate crime. Momentum has been building for months in California to overhaul Proposition 47 — which was sold to voters in 2014 as a way to reduce mass incarceration by classifying several drug and theft offenses as misdemeanors rather than felonies.

A growing coalition of businesses, residents and civic leaders who say they have reached their “tipping point” with rampant public drug use, retail theft and homelessness are supporting Proposition 36, which would reverse parts of the state's decade-old Proposition 47.

The new measure on the ballot would allow law enforcement to take a tougher approach to drug trafficking and shoplifting by adding fentanyl to a list of drugs like heroin and methamphetamine that result in a felony if a person is in possession of those drugs Firearm is found. Under the proposal, a person with two or more prior theft convictions who steals property valued at $950 or less would face criminal charges instead of having the theft treated as a misdemeanor.

California's overall violent crime rate rose 1.7 percent in 2023, crime data from the Public Policy Institute of California shows, and violent crime is still 15.4 percent above pre-pandemic levels.

Of 10 statewide ballot proposals — including initiatives on gay marriage, climate change and the minimum wage — the crime-focused measure is top of mind for voters, according to the new poll. 28 percent of voters say they are most interested in Proposition 36 of the ballot measures.

The poll also shows that most California adults – 62 percent – believe the state is moving in the wrong direction, an increase from last year's 54 percent. Those numbers vary widely by political party, as 90 percent of Republicans said the state is going in the wrong direction, compared to 76 percent of independents and 37 percent of Democrats.

Proposition 36 supporters say Californians are fed up with the “explosion of theft and trafficking of deadly hard drugs like fentanyl,” often because the people who commit these crimes face no serious consequences. They say that while Proposition 47 provided some criminal justice reforms, it “led to unintended consequences, such as increased repeated and often organized retail thefts, store closures, locked-up items, and difficulty convincing people to seek drug and mental health treatment.” undergo.”

Mr. Newsom has spoken out against Proposition 36, the Sun reported, but he said he doesn't have the “bandwidth” to actively oppose it. The measure is opposed by numerous Democratic groups in California, who say it is “too extreme” and will “reignite the failed drug wars of the '80s and '90s.”
“Prop 36 is a Republican-led attempt to restore 1980s-style drug war tactics that destroy families and communities and overcrowd our state prisons with little benefit to public safety,” a coalition opposing the measure argued.