Voters in state uneasy despite economic gains

Things are looking up heading into the election, right? A new breakout of census data by the White House shows that Californians are earning more and have vastly improved health insurance coverage, a lower poverty rate and narrowing income inequality.

But a new Field Poll/IGS Poll shows that most Californians think they’re still in the Great Recession of 2008, with nearly two-thirds saying the country is “seriously off on the wrong track.” And only 37 percent think it’s moving in the right direction. As to California specifically, a bare majority (51

ON THE CAMPAIGN

percent) think the state is moving in the right direction, while nearly as many (49 percent) think it’s on the wrong track.

Yet the census data show the economy is producing the kind of real gains for working people that have been missing for decades. Median income for California households last year grew 4 percent, or $2,490. The Fresno metro area, which in 2010 was the second poorest in the nation, and the impoverished Mendota farming region, both in the San Joaquin Valley, saw the fastest income gains in the state, up 8 percent in Fresno and 11 percent in Mendota.

Income gains nationally are the largest since record-keeping began in the 1960s, and the fastest growth is among the poorest households, said Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman.

The share of Californians lacking health insurance plummeted from 17.2 percent in 2013 to 8.6 percent in 2015. Since 2010, California has added more than 2.3 million jobs, bringing the unemployment rate from its 12.2 percent peak in the Great Recession to 5.5 percent.

Furman attributed the gains to a tightening labor market that is lifting incomes across the board. He said inflation remains quiet and he saw no sign of the “big, fat, ugly bubble” that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump described in his Monday night debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. — Carolyn Lochhead The Bern’s back: Bernie Sanders is returning to California. He’s in a new commercial supporting Proposition 61, which would require state agencies to pay the same prices for prescription drugs as the federal Department of Veterans Affairs. It is one of a handful of state ballot measures nationwide that Sanders is backing.

“The time is long overdue for the American people to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry,” Sanders says in the 30-second spot that will be broadcast next week. “People are dying because they can’t afford the medicine they need, just so these companies can make outrageous Sen. Bernie Sanders is backing Prop. 61 in a new TV ad. profits. Proposition 61 is a very, very important step forward.”

The Yes on Prop. 61 crew hopes political star power can overcome a serious cash deficit. Through Sept. 16, Prop. 61’s opponents — fueled by Big Pharma companies — poured $86 million into opposition compared with $9 million for the proponents.

Still, 50 percent of the respondents to the Field/IGS Poll supported Prop. 61, while 16 percent opposed it and 34 percent remain undecided. — Joe Garofoli Support for Harris: Two of the nation’s leading gun-control advocates — former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly — endorsed California Attorney General Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate on Thursday during an appearance in Los Angeles with the candidate.

Kelly called Harris a “tireless and fearless voice for action that saves lives from gun violence.” He said that “we need more leaders in the Senate like your attorney general — leaders who will not only stand up to the Washington gun lobby but have a record on this and a plan to do it.”

Giffords, who survived a January 2011 assassination attempt in Tucson that killed six others, said “stopping gun violence takes courage — the courage to do what’s right, the courage of new ideas.”

Harris called for “reasonable” gun laws, including universal background checks and renewal of the federal assault weapons ban. “I have friends who love to hunt,” Harris said. “If you need an assault weapon to hunt, you need to go back to hunting school.” More election news: www.sfchronicle.com/ election/2016/

A spokesman for Harris’ rival, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, pointed to a 2015 state auditor’s report that said the California Department of Justice had not fully implemented changes that would allow it to “accurately and promptly” identify people who are prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm “due to a mental health-related event in their life.”

“No endorsement can hide Kamala Harris’ failed record to keep guns away from criminals and people with mental illness putting public safety at risk,” Sanchez campaign senior adviser Luis Vizcaino said. — Joe Garofoli Online extra