THE TIMES POLL : Gas Tax Hike Hasn’t Caught On With Voters

Gov. George Deukmejian still has not sold California voters on paying higher gasoline taxes so highways can be improved and traffic congestion eased, The Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Deukmejian, like many Republican politicians of recent years, has built a political career out of opposing tax increases. But this year he is the leading sponsor and chief spokesman for Proposition 111, a June ballot measure that would hike the gas tax and lift the state spending limit in order to finance an ambitious, 10-year transportation plan.

“This is the only game in town and everybody should get on board behind it,” Deukmejian has asserted, warning that Proposition 111 may be California’s last chance in the near future to reduce traffic jams.

But voters, who for several elections have been accepting the GOP’s anti-tax arguments, now are balking at a gas tax hike coupled with a higher state spending limit. The Times Poll found that only 36% of registered voters are supporting the measure, with 49% opposed and 15% undecided.

Solidly against Proposition 111 are low-income people, blue-collar workers and women. About evenly split are people with higher incomes, white-collar workers and men. Voters living near downtowns are more opposed than people in the suburbs. Residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties are opposed, but people in the San Francisco Bay Area favor the measure.

The Times Poll, directed by I.A. Lewis, interviewed 2,058 California adults by telephone for six days ending last Thursday night. Among those surveyed were 1,573 registered voters, including 742 Democrats and 638 Republicans. The margins of error for the total sample and registered voters are three percentage points in either direction. For the Democrats and Republicans separately, the error margins are four points in either direction.

The interviews also indicated that these must be frustrating, lonely days for politicians seeking any statewide office except governor because the candidates for these other posts seem to be running without an audience.

For example, in a quiet struggle for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination, 86% of the GOP voters said they do not know enough about either of the major contenders to choose up sides. Both candidates are state senators from Orange County.

Among those with an opinion, a minuscule 8% favor Sen. Marion Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), 5% support Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and 1% want some another candidate. Bergeson is getting a slight boost from women voters.

A fight for the Democratic attorney general nomination finds Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner drawing only 18% of his party’s vote and San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith getting 12%, with 68% undecided. Los Angeles County is providing roughly half of Reiner’s support and the smaller San Francisco Bay Area is supplying about a third of Smith’s.

In the contest for the GOP treasurer nomination, incumbent Thomas W. Hayes leads former U.S. Treasurer Angela (Bay) Buchanan among Republican voters by 24% to 12%, with 63% undecided.

Additionally, The Times Poll found that despite Sen. Alan Cranston’s repeated efforts to explain himself, his controversial involvement in the Lincoln Savings & Loan scandal still galls voters. The veteran Democrat’s image has improved only marginally since a previous Times survey three months ago and remains largely negative.

Cranston and four other senators have been accused of interfering with a federal investigation of Lincoln in exchange for substantial political donations from the S&L;’s owner, Charles H. Keating Jr. Lincoln has since gone into receivership and about 24,000 of its depositors, mainly retirees, face the loss of their savings. Cranston has insisted that his intervention was unrelated to political contributions and that he merely was trying to help an important constituent.

But three-fourths of the voters still think Cranston acted improperly. More than two-thirds say he does not deserve reelection to a fifth term in 1992 and “it’s time to give a new person a chance.” A third think he should resign now.

For most of Cranston’s career, voters have held a positive impression of him. But not these days, the survey showed. It now is 34% favorable, 51% unfavorable and 15% not sure.

Only four in 10 voters think Cranston “is honest.” The rest are split about equally between people who think he is not and those who aren’t sure.

In interviewing on the gas tax proposal, The Times Poll first asked all registered voters for their “impression of Proposition 111, the Traffic Congestion Relief and Spending Act.” Only 16% knew enough about it to have an opinion, but among those who did the verdict was roughly 2 to 1 favorable.

People then were told that Proposition 111 “would raise the limit on state spending in order to improve transportation in California and also boost the gasoline tax by 5 cents a gallon . . . and then 1 cent a year until it reaches 9 cents a gallon. . . .” Asked how they will vote, opponents outnumbered supporters by 13 percentage points.

By contrast, a Times survey in early December found Proposition 111 being rejected by only six points, but a similar poll in October showed it down by 24. Another polling organization, The California Poll directed by Mervin D. Field, found voters evenly divided in early February.

The measure’s backers--a Deukmejian-led coalition of business, labor and political leaders--hope to sell voters on the proposal with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign before the June 5 election.

To some extent, Deukmejian’s legacy is riding on the outcome. Voter rejection of the measure would result in fiscal chaos for the state highway fund and--the governor has warned--lead to dramatic cutbacks in new construction. Deukmejian then would be vulnerable to criticism by historians that he allowed California’s once-prized highway system to deteriorate into near-gridlock.

But while Deukmejian has placed his prestige on the line with the measure that he and the Legislature negotiated, so far he does not seem to have persuaded many voters to support it. The survey showed that voters are not drawing a connection between Deukmejian and Proposition 111; that what popularity he has is not rubbing off on the gas tax proposal.

For example, voters who approve of the way Deukmejian is handling his job as governor still oppose Proposition 111 by 12 percentage points. In fact, people who disapprove of the governor are a little more inclined to consider the measure.

Conservatives approve of the governor’s job performance by 4 to 1, but oppose Proposition 111 by 3 to 2. On the other hand, liberals disapprove of Deukmejian by 5 to 3, but tend to look favorably on the gas tax increase.

By party, Republicans and Democrats oppose Proposition 111 in about the same proportion.

One key problem for Deukmejian was illustrated when voters were asked which issues “are usually most important” to them when they decide whom to support for governor. “Improving transportation” finished near the bottom of the list, which was topped by “crime and drugs” and education, followed by the environment and abortion.