Calif. voters sour on governor, lawmakers

SACRAMENTO, June 3 (UPI) -- With the economy slowing and gas prices rising, most California voters say the country and their state is headed in the wrong direction, a poll indicates.

According to a Field Poll, just 17 percent of voters believe the United States is headed in the right direction, while 23 percent say California is headed on the right track, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported Tuesday.

"It is hard to feel kindly about elected representatives and politicians in an era when you feel nothing is going right," said Jaime Regalado, director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University-Los Angeles.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval has dropped dramatically. Just 41 percent of voters approved of Schwarzenegger's performance as governor, a drop from 60 percent in December, the newspaper said.

Opinions of the Democrat-led state Legislature are even worse, with just 30 percent approving of the job lawmakers are doing.

"When things start heading south on the economy, you know it's touching a nerve when people start getting this grumpy," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the California Field Poll.

Neither the poll's sample size nor its margin of error were reported.