Editorial: Poll shock – even Calif. voters are tired of anti-Trump moves

Too much resistance is not a good thing, at least as far as some Blue State voters are concerned.As Politico reported, surveys of California voters found that they’re more inclined to want a detente with DC than than the relentless anti-Trump stance taken by progressive political leaders.This should be a red flag for Massachusetts, California’s political soulmate, as our state ramps up yet more taxpayer-funded lawsuits against the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California would sue Trump over tariffs, the first state to do so.This is great news for registered Democrats, who make up almost half the electorate in California, but as the state is discovering, they are not the only voters out there.



“The influentials are a much more homogenous group than the registered voter public,” said Jack Citrin, a University of California, Berkeley political science professor who directed the first-of-its-kind poll with Politico. “The major difference is the electorate has polarized.”Massachusetts is as Blue as they come, but Trump nonetheless made gains among voters, and exceeded the number of votes cast for him here in 2020.

The California poll shows that while Democratic voters want to take on on Trump, the electorate broadly wants their representatives to lower the temperature. Forty-three percent of registered voters said leaders were “too confrontational” — a sentiment largely driven by Republicans and independents — compared to a third who found them “too passive.”There’s a disconnect between progressive leaders and voters, and as more Democrats take the Trump administration to court at taxpayers’ expense, the situation could further fray.

That goes for Massachusetts, too.A spokesperson for Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano said the House proposed increasing Attorney General Andrea “Bring It On” Campbell’s budget to $82.5 million, or $6.

8 million more than Gov. Healey’s budget and $5.4 million above what the AG received in fiscal year 2025.

Campbell told the Legislature she needs “every penny.” Her office was engaged in more than half-a-dozen lawsuits against Trump or members of his administration as of last month.One of the biggest surprises in the Politico poll concerned climate change, a hot topic on both coasts in progressive states.

Less than half of California voters think the state should be able to set its own strict standards on vehicle emissions.The reason comes as no surprise with Bay Staters chafing at efforts to cut back on gas production. Craig Segall, an environmental policy consultant who formerly worked for the California Air Resources Board, said the results suggested that most voters do not see concrete effects in their lives from California’s climate regime.

As of February of this year, there were 1,298,603 registered Democratic voters in Massachusetts, 423,387 Republicans, and a whopping 3,254, 435 Unenrolled. As challengers start throwing their hats in the ring against Gov. Maura Healey’s re-election, all candidates should take a lesson from California.

Progressives now set the policies, but that doesn’t mean everyone in the electorate is on board. It’s best to realize this now than in 2026.Editorial cartoon by Al Goodwyn (Creators Syndicate).