Term limits slips in poll; voters support sales tax for health care

The term-limits modification measure on the Feb. 5 ballot is slipping but continues to garner majority support, according to a new poll released by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University.

A bare majority, 51 percent, of likely voters said they would favor the measure, Proposition 93, with 27 percent opposed and 21 percent undecided.

Continuing an earlier trend, the measure is more popular among Republicans, who appear to hone in on the ballot language saying the measure "reduces the total amount of time a person may serve."

"Californians like the idea of reducing the overall number of years politicians can spend in office," said survey director Melinda Jackson in a statement accompanying the poll. "So support for this term limits measure, which would actually increase the amount of time in Sacramento for many current officeholders is still uncertain."

The 51 percent support is down 5 percentage points from June, when 56 percent of likely voters said they would back the measure.

The Survey and Policy Research Institute also queried voters about how to pay for a health care overhaul, specifically hiking the state sales tax by one cent per dollar.

Overall, 52 percent of respondents said they would vote for such a plan, though the numbers are buoyed by liberals (67 percent support) and Democrats (64 percent), while conservatives and Republicans are opposed (38 percent).

And despite the lackluster reviews for the 2007 year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to fly high in the polls. A majority of residents, 53 percent, said they approve of the way he is handling his job. The number is even higher, 57 percent, among likely voters. Schwarzenegger even pulls majority support in the left-leaning Bay Area, with 55 percent support.

The governor's numbers comes despite only 42 percent of adults saying they think the state is generally moving in the right direction.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 1-8 via telephone with 652 California adults, of which 400 were tagged as likely voters. The margin of error for all adults is 3.8 percentage points and 4.9 points for likely voters.

See the full poll results here.