Arnold has until Monday to call for a special election. If he does it will cost California taxpayers $80 million. Polls show that only 30% of Californians approve of the special election. Polls also show that only 38% of Californians believe Arnold is doing a good job. Yet he is still saying he will call for it!?
? I can't figure him out??? Is he going to terminate himself??? Or does he have an ace in the hole?
?
I suspect that Arnold's ace in the hole is the fact that middle class taxpayers in California are paying out about 40% of their income in taxes. That figure includes all types of taxes.
Also, proposition 13 is a BIG ace in the hole. Even strong democrats that are older, (an increasing % of democrats are over 50), remember the huge property tax increases of the 70's that led to prop 13 being passed by a huge majority.
Every time the democrats have put an initiative on the ballot to weaken or cancel it since then, it has been voted down by a large margin.
Arnold, I suspect, isn't on the ropes yet. There is a big difference between public opinion polls and votes.
Also, remember that Arnold's main opponents are the public employee unions.
Union membership in California is only 9% of the workforce.
Thomas Maddux
