Why is Arnold so popular? 65% approval rating in California

[ringmastery]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=us&sid=a.pFGzhP4oWo

Schwarzenegger Is Most Popular Governor Since 1991, Poll Says
May 27 (Bloomberg) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is more popular than any of his predecessors in 13 years, with approval from 65 percent of voters in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans, a poll found.

The Republican governor's approval rating is higher than any received by either of his two immediate predecessors, Republican Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, a Democrat, according to a poll by the Field Research Corp. His rating is twice as high as that given to the Democrat-led Legislature, according to the Field poll of 745 registered voters from May 18 to May 24.

``He's certainly got a lot of political capital stored up with the voters,'' Mark DiCamillo, the pollster for the San Francisco-based research company, said in a telephone interview.

Schwarzenegger's popularity may help California approve a spending plan on time, which it has failed to do 12 times since 1990, including last year. The governor plans to close the state's $14 billion budget deficit without raising taxes.

[evil_orange_cat]

1. because he's Arnold...

people are star-struck... he would probably be elected president if he weren't foreign born. If Gray Davis were Arnold, and all other things were equal, they wouldn't have recalled him. That race was a popularity contest... not a serious policy vote.

[Maat]

4. I agree with evilOrangeCat...

but I'm disappointed in my fellow Californians for idolizing a Karl Rove hack (he's met with him) and David Dreier is his handler (who gives new meaning to Republican White Boy).

[wtmusic]

2. 'Cause we don't know any better n/t

[Zinfandel]

18. Because he's pushing California's deficit into the future (with interest)

And no ones calling him on it, everyone is just pretending it's all taken care of with bonds.

Out of site. out of Californians minds, until after the elections.

[wtmusic]

21. We love our bonds

nobody seems to notice were losing $3M a day in interest.

[West Coast Democrat]

3. I hate to burst your bubble....

but Ahnold's popularity won't help shrub in November.

[ronnykmarshall]

13. You got that right.

Arnie hasn't even stumped for shurbbie yet. I don't think he's going to that much.

[AP]

Because the media doesn't criticize him. They elected him and they're not

going to criticize him.

[CatWoman]

8. the same could be said about Chimpy................

[AP]

17. Except the media has been allowed to criticize Bush recently.

Have you seen Letterman lately?

Arnold doesn't get treated like that at all. Never.

[bigbillhaywood]

5. Because as surprisingly intelligent, creative, brave, and empathetic

as ordinary people can sometimes be, they can just as often be surprisingly stupid, closed-minded, irrationally fearful, hateful and selfish.

[rinsd]

6. 2 things

As others have said, he's Ahnuld. Some people will like him regardless.

Second, he hasn't screwed anything up. Now some here certainly have issues with what he's done but to most of the populace the fact that he has been effective makes him a leader in their eyes. He is also benefiting from lowered expectations both as a movie star and the situation CA was in.

[goclark]

7. 65% of Californians are Stupid

and I live in California and I am not stupid.
Arnold is dumb and he is slick. He knows that the sun in Cal lee for nee a affects the brains of the population at large.

People do not realize how dangerous this man is, they think he is just a happy go lucky movie star. He is a "has been star" folks!

And, I will put his wife right along side of him . She wears the cloth of Kennedy around her shoulders and protects her molester husband. She knows full well that he is a lying sack of s***!
She uses her Democratic name to make him appear Liberal. He is a Nazi!

If you don't believe me now, wait 3 years and you will know then.

[rinsd]

14. LOL....yeah they're dumb.....

C'mon, what are you going to say when Kerry wins the state hands down?

Jesus, this people are stupid because they don't agree with me or and they have woken up because they do agree is silly.

Ahnuld is popular because he is seen as effectively dealing with the budget and working with the Dem legislature. Throw in his movie star stuff and his very calculated media image and you have an effective politician. Ahnuld is many things, stupid isn't one of them.

Besides that I can make his prouncements in a McBain voice gets a thumbs up for comedic purposes. ;-)

[phoebe]

9. After July his popularity ratings will drop substantially - look to the

budget..

[BillZBubb]

10. There are a lot of star struck simpletons everywhere.

The guy would be popular in any state, so long as he hasn't been responsible for any serious governmental actions.

He'll do the usual Repug borrow and spend with California's budget and the rubes will buy it hook, line, and sinker.

[taquinas101]

11. Davis Had The Charisma of A Soggy Newspaper

I voted against the recall, but even as a Democrat, I thought that Davis had terrible charisma. His campaign strategy seemed primarily at explaining why you should vote for his opponent, rather than why you should vote for him.

In California, the choice of leaders is somewhat irrelevant, given the ass-backwards voter initiative system that simultaneously mandates spending, but prohibits tax hikes, and requires a 2/3 vote for tax increases. This coupled with term limits has lead to extremely unaccountable state legislatures.

I agree that Davis inherited a sorry ass deregulation system from Wilson. Nevertheless, he did not do himself any favors in terms of communicating what he stood for.

While I disagree with some of his policies, such as the refusal to confront the structural issues that routinely cause gridlock in the passage of a California budget, Arnold makes people feel good about California, including non-Californians.

[uhhuh]

12. Here's The Thing

Ahnuld is getting ZERO negative coverage on TV. There are some rare print reports of programs that are being cut that people need, but most of those are dry and complicated issues that you have to read carefully to know how serious they are.( Read:boring.)

The idiot box has nothing bad to say about the guy. Talk radio worships him. This is the news the public gets.
There's your answer.

[comradebillyboy]

15. arnold is very personable, even charismatic

and he is certainly not less competent than the universally despised grey davis.

[Hammie]

16. The main reason

is that after a series of special interest trucklers, Californians have some pretty low expectations. Arnold at least appears to have a spine.

[mitchtv]

19. he was elected to give back the cartax

Most Californians can't afford their vehicles, hence the thought of some money back on their tax elected arnold. The fact that they will have to layoff cops and fireman doesn't register with most.The tax did it.

[Kahuna]

20. He was popular before he became Govenor. He's a movie superstar..

duh.

[Disturbed]

22. A long honeymoon

plus most Californians haven't taken their rose colored glasses off ... yet.

[SoCalDem]

23. People cannot separate who they are from what they do..

Ahhhnold is a cult figure.. people have been "watching" him for 3o+ years, and to date, he's been a "good guy"..a "fun guy".. They are transferring what he "has been" to "what he IS now".. They are expecting him to just morph into the governor.. No one is really paying attention to what he's doing, except for the wonks amongst us..

Celebrity to politician is a long-accepted route, and as long as he does not take a machete to Maria on Good Morning L.A. , he'll probably run again and get "elected" again.. (Did he really "get" elected?? We've got those machines out here, ya know..)

[Deja Q]

24. In the 1980s, actor Reagan was popular. Many look back and see

how wrong they were.

And who's doing the polling? No poll is accurate unless EVERYBODY is asked.

[Cleita]

25. I wondered about that too.

He's not popular among the Dems I know. Where did they take this poll, in Iowa? Something fishy is going on and I don't think they took a cross sampling of Californians. If they took it in the Central Valley, like in Fresno and Bakersfield, it could be that kind of numbers, but it wouldn't be a fair sampling of Californians.

[Egalitarian Zetetic]

26. WOW they polled a whole 745 people? <nt>

[AlCzervik]

27. In a nutshell

people are fing stupid. I live in California and i used to see the clipboard freepers walking around after people to sign the petition, it looked like a chum line. People thought they wanted a change because they were marketed that idea by very smart assholes and they bought it, now you should see my newspaper metro section...."I wished i never voted for him, i'm sorry" and so on. Now way is Bush winning here, aint gonna happen no matter how fasley high Gropenfuher's poll numbers look.

[SemperEadem]

28. could be his style of schmoozing

Davis had a divisiveness about how he went about doing business. Seems Arnold is able to get folks to compromise--I hear the budget is balanced already.

This could explain a little more on his popularity:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1140863/posts

[maggrwaggr]

29. I'm in CA and I've heard almost nothing about him

since the election.

He's done very little, or at least gotten very little press.

No news is good news I suppose, if you're him.

He hasn't done anything yet to be UNpopular I suppose.