California voters don’t trust their government, Berkeley poll reveals

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

DATA ON DISTRUST

Sacramento politicians have work to do when it comes to gaining the trust of constituents, according to a new poll from Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies — but they aren’t alone.

The poll revealed that a majority of California voters don’t fully trust Gov. Gavin Newsom or the state Legislature to act in the best interests of the public. Technology companies and business groups fared even worse in the poll.

Newsom received the most mixed response from voters. While 14% of voters trust him a lot and another 28% trust him somewhat, 32% don’t trust him at all. As might be expected, Democrats were more likely to trust Newsom to act in the public’s best interests. Only 6% of Republicans polled said they trust Newsom a lot, another 16% said they somewhat trust him.

More than half of respondents said they don’t trust technology companies and their leaders. Slightly less, 50%, said they don’t trust business groups. Labor unions, community-based non-profits and the courts were all considered more trustworthy by the voters.

Another sore spot for respondents was American democracy, as 90% said they believe democracy is either under attack or being tested. Just one in ten said they believe democracy is not in danger. Institute of Governmental Studies co-director Eric Schickler, said these results emphasize the concerns Californians have about American democracy.

“Not many years ago, it is hard to imagine that a majority of voters would have seen U.S. democracy as under severe threat,” Schickler said. “It is now something of a new ‘normal’ — itself a worrisome sign about how things have shifted.”

A NEW BANK

Via David Lightman…

U.S Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, is teaming up with Florida Republican Rep. Daniel Webster to push legislation to create a national infrastructure bank.

The bank would provide loans and loan guarantees to local infrastructure projects. That would allow local governments to have another funding source to help fix roads, bridges, waterways, wastewater systems and more.

The bank could “unlock billions of dollars a year in private funding to support our nation’s most pressing infrastructure projects,” said Carbajal, whose district includes part of San Luis Obispo County.

Bank funding for the projects would come from municipal, state, and union pension funds. That money would be loaned to the bank, earning interest on the money and repaying the principal in time so that workers could tap retirement savings.

Management of the bank would include a seven member board of directors. Three would be appointed by the president and the others by congressional leaders.

The bank could accept up to $5 billion during a fiscal year for the loans, loan guarantees, and bonds for eligible projects.

The bank would be subject to an annual audit, an inspector general and an evaluation report to Congress every five years by the independent Government Accountability Office.

Carbajal and Webster are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, one of the committees expected to consider the legislation.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“California’s energy grid has run entirely on clean energy for at least some part of nearly every day in 2025 so far. @realDonaldTrump and Republicans can try to take us back to the days of dirty coal, but the future is in cheap, abundant clean energy.”

— Gov. Gavin Newsom in X post

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This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 4:55 AM.