Poll: Californians give Trump thumbs-down

Most Californians disapprove of President Trump’s proposed travel ban on six majority-Muslim countries, and roughly two-thirds of the state’s residents don’t think much of Trump’s early White House job performance, either, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Breaking down largely along partisan lines, 58 percent of those surveyed opposed the travel ban, while 37 percent backed it. The poll found that 85 percent of Republicans liked it, 81 percent of Democrats didn’t and more independent voters opposed it (54 percent) than supported it (42 percent).

As for their feelings about Trump, only 31 percent of all Californians, and 35 percent of likely voters, approved of the way he’s handling his job as president. Eightyone percent of Republicans approved of Trump’s performance while only 14 percent of Democrats did. And 36 percent of those described as independent approved.

The survey, taken from March 5 to 14, was based on interviews with 1,706 adults. The margin of error is 3.3 percentage points.

Nationally, 52 percent of voters disapprove of Trump and 42 percent approve, according to a synthesis of top polls by the website fivethirtyeight.com.

Against the backdrop of Trump’s new set of executive orders aimed at tightening border security and deporting criminals in this country illegally, the survey found support for unauthorized immigrants gaining a pathway to citizenship.

More than two-thirds of Californians (68 percent) agreed that immigrants living without authorization in this country should be allowed to “stay and eventually apply for citizenship.” That figure included support from 46 percent of California Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independent voters.

Only 12 percent said such immigrants should be allowed “to stay legally but not be allowed to apply for citizenship.” Fifteen percent of all of the survey voters, and 36 percent of the Republican respondents, said they should be required to leave the United States. For Democrats, that figure was 6 percent. On other issues:

Californians don’t think much of Congress. Only 36 percent approved of how Congress is doing its job. Among Republicans, 48 percent approved. But, the survey also found that 51 percent of the respondents, including 56 percent of Democrats in the predominantly Democratic state, approved of the job their own representative was doing. About half of likely voters (51 percent, including 53 percent of independents) approved of how Sen. Dianne Feinstein is doing her job. Feinstein faces re-election next year.

Californians have little trust in government “to do what is right.” When asked how often the federal government does what is right, 7 percent said “just about always,” 22 percent said “most of the time,” 62 percent said “some of the time” and 7 percent said “none of the time.”

Californians are divided on high-speed rail. A majority of likely voters (54 percent) oppose building it, and 37 percent would oppose it even if it cost less. Among all Californians, 48 percent support it, 46 percent oppose.