Poll: Flood control favored over tunnels among Californians

Californians are more likely to favor beefing up the state’s flood control infrastructure than building Gov. Jerry Brown’s Delta tunnels, according to the latest poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Sixty-one percent of all adults think it is “very important” that the state spend more money on flood control, in the wake of the near disaster at Oroville Dam.

Fifty-one percent consider the tunnels “very important,” with the $15 billion proposal enjoying much higher levels of support in Southern California (64 percent) than in the Central Valley (40 percent) or the Bay Area (49 percent).

Stronger support for flood control than the Delta tunnels shows how the wet winter has elevated the public’s concern, said Mark Baldassare, PPIC president and CEO.

“It’s a difficult place that our state is in,” he said. “We have not been investing in maintaining the infrastructure that we already have, so it’s very hard for the public to get their minds around starting new projects when they see some areas of great need right in front of them.”

That said, the majority support for the tunnels — little changed from a similar poll last year — suggests residents still have their eye on long-term water supply worries, Baldassare said.

Overall, 77 percent of Californians consider the tunnels “very important” or “somewhat important,” the poll found. Seven percent said the project is “not too important” and 7 percent said “not at all important.” There was no option in the multiplechoice poll for respondents to explicitly express opposition.

Other notable federal and state findings from the poll:

• 58 percent of Californians disapprove of President Donald Trump’s revised order to temporarily ban travelers from six majority-Muslim countries, with a sharp division on partisan lines;

• 25 percent of Californians favor building Trump’s wall along the Mexican border;

• 31 percent of Californians approve of Trump’s job performance; and

• 58 percent of Californians approve of Brown’s job performance.