Poll: Economy, deficit, top voter issues in Calif. SFGate

Poll: Economy, deficit, top voter issues in Calif. SFGate

Voters rank California's abysmal economy and high unemployment rate, along with continuing uncertainty about the state's budget deficit, as the top issues facing the candidates vying to be governor, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday.

More than two-thirds of California voters ranked those issues as most important, followed by education, health care, taxes, immigration and water.

Democrats, Republicans and decline-to-state voters agree that jobs, the economy and the state budget are the most pressing problems facing the state this year, as California faces a 12.5 percent unemployment rate and another $20 billion budget shortfall.

All three leading candidates for governor have been sounding similar themes as they stump for votes. Republicans Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner have argued for tax cuts, although they differ on the specifics, and creating a more business-friendly climate. They say those steps will go furthest in promoting an economic recovery.

The two are vying for their party's nomination in the June primary.

Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of eBay, says she would focus on three priorities as governor: creating 2 million private sector jobs by 2015, cutting spending — partly by eliminating 40,000 state government jobs — and fixing education.

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