I've written about this a few times but Prop 36 is the California ballot initiative designed to rollback an earlier crime-related proposition called Prop. 47. Prop 47 has been blamed by many for creating the crime and public drug abuse problems the Golden State has been experiencing. The passage of Prop. 47 in 2014 basically turned thefts under $950 into misdemeanors. And then on top of doing that, many of those misdemeanors weren't being charged or even reported. This is, according to many CA law enforcement officials, how you wound up with drug stores being cleaned out by homeless people who walk in with trash bags and walk out with anything they can grab.

For reasons that remain somewhat murky, Gov. Gavin Newsom and many of his fellow Democrats went all out trying to stop Prop. 36 from ever getting on the ballot. Maybe it was just because he really believes this is a return to mass incarceration or maybe because he didn't want to see a popular anti-crime initiative bring a bunch of Republican voters out of hiding in November. Whatever the case, his various machinations failed and polling now shows the initiative is going to pass easily. Indeed, it's going to be the most popular thing up for a vote this year.

Nearly three-quarters of the California electorate plans to vote for a high-profile ballot measure that would increase penalties for some theft- and drug-related crimes, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Seventy-three percent of likely voters said they would support Proposition 36, the survey from the Public Policy Institute of California found, compared with just 25 percent who plan to oppose it. That’s a slight increase from PPIC’s September poll, which found 71 percent of likely voters in favor of it.

Support for Prop 36 was the highest among the slate of 10 statewide issue questions appearing on Californians’ ballots this fall. It was also the measure named by the most voters — 28 percent — as the one in which they were most interested.

Crime has become a major campaign issue heading into November, in part because of Prop 36’s presence on the ballot. The measure’s support has been fueled by lingering voter concerns since a surge in certain crimes during the pandemic, but faced resistance from leading Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom, who warn against a harsh pivot back to tough-on-crime policies.

This is about the biggest slap in the face California voters could give Newsom this year. He spent months fighting this very publicly using every trick in the book. But by last month it was clear the voters weren't having it and he publicly threw in the towel.

And when you combine the passage of Prop. 36 with the looming ouster of LA County DA George Gascon (who polls also show is going to lose badly next month) you have a one-two punch aimed at the soft-white underbelly of soft-on-crime Democrats. Remember, LA County is 1/4 of the population of the entire state, so what happens there has a huge impact. 

Yes, people on the left coast still want lip service about criminal justice reform. They still won't vote for anyone labeled a Republican. They still want to tell themselves they're good liberals even as they backtrack and undo the criminal justice reform efforts of the good liberals from just a few years ago. What the public wants more than woke promises is public safety and appropriate sentencing for serious and ongoing crimes. The tide is turning in California, turning back toward a modicum of sanity, even if the Democratic voters won't quite admit that's what is happening.