Xavier Becerra continues to lead Steve Hilton in new Calif. poll

Six years ago, when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his plan to ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars and commit California to a transition to electric vehicles, support was split down the middle. But a recent poll released this week shows that the excitement has dwindled.

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Now, two-thirds of Californians said that they oppose the governor’s proposal to ban gas cars by 2035, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. That’s a 17 percentage point increase in disapproval from when adults were initially asked about their support in July 2021. Just one in three Californians said they have seriously considered buying an electric car the next time they buy one.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former Republican who changed his party affiliation to independent in March ahead of his reelection bid, already successfully passed legislation last year to reverse the governor’s plan. Kiley — who owns a Tesla — argued that while he supports electric vehicles personally, the government should not be forcing people to buy them. President Donald Trump signed Kiley’s bill into law, and California Democrats sued the federal government soon after. The policy continues to be in the midst of a legal saga. 

Newsom’s ban would have been the first of its kind in the nation, and would have continued California’s legacy as a climate leader by eliminating significant carbon emissions.

The California Energy Commission, the entity responsible for overseeing the state’s transition to fully electric cars, previously told SFGATE last June that it will continue to be steadfast in its ambitions to phase out gas cars. The state is continuing to build out its electric grid by constructing electric car chargers across the state.

Even though Californians’ support for an electric vehicle transition appears to be dwindling, their attitudes toward other environmental policies seem promising. According to the PPIC poll, 65% of adults in California support California creating its own policies to protect the environment that are separate from federal law.

Another 62% of respondents said they were in support of the state’s transition to 100% renewable energy, but only 38% said they were open to paying more for their electric bills in order to achieve that. 

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Across the board, Californians agree that the cost of energy is far too high. Sixty-three percent of Californians agree that the price of gasoline and electric bills is a big problem. That is up 9 percentage points compared with last July.

Also, as data centers became ubiquitous across the country and California, PPIC found that an overwhelming majority of adults — 73% — remains adamantly opposed to the construction of data centers to advance the development of artificial intelligence.

The poll also highlighted other less surprising details.

Voters in June’s primary election cast their ballots in favor of Democrat Xavier Becerra, the former U.S. health secretary and former California attorney general, and Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, as the state’s candidates for governor. As is to be expected in a heavily blue state, Becerra maintains a strong lead ahead of Hilton, the poll revealed, with 61% support from likely voters for Becerra, who has gained more support from independents, compared with 36% support for Hilton. A June poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies showed similar results, with 52% of voters in support of the Democrat. Hilton had 31% support.

The PPIC survey polled 1,578 California adults in English and Spanish from June 29 to July 6. It included 1,003 likely voters, with a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points among likely voters.