Californians show greater levels of pessimism about future going into the midterms: poll

Californians are showing a gloomy outlook about the direction of their state and the country, a new poll shows. 

More than half of the state’s likely voters believe that California is headed in the wrong direction, and 73% believe poor economic times lie ahead in California next year, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll published Tuesday. 

Trump has an approval rating of 27% among likely voters, which still rivals Congress' approval rating, which sits at 16%, according to the poll. Majorities have little confidence that either party can solve problems, the poll also found. 

Mark Baldassare, PPIC’s statewide survey director, told the Los Angeles Times that Californians are feeling "very pessimistic," and that outlook shows not just on the economy, but in the general direction of the state and nation. 

Ballots will begin arriving in tens of millions of voters' mailboxes in a little more than two weeks, and the poll found that 80% of likely voters are frustrated with the length of the ballot. It includes 14 propositions in addition to statewide, congressional and local elections. The frustration showed across voters of all parties. 

A proposal to tax billionaires to make up for federal government healthcare cuts has a slim lead in the poll. However, narrow majorities support two ballot measures that would nullify the wealth tax if one is approved and gets more votes than the billionaire-tax proposition. 

A measure requiring ID to vote is opposed by 55% of likely voters, and 60% of likely voters support Democrat Xavier Becerra, and 38% support Republican Steve Hilton.

The poll of 1,745 adult Californians was conducted Sept. 4-10, and has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points in either direction, and 3.8 percentage points among the 1,103 likely voters.