Poll: 4 In 10 Californians Have Considered Fleeing The State

California is drawing street visits from major presidential candidates trashing the status quo for good reason: 4 in 10 residents have considered leaving it.

According to results of a new poll out Friday, 40 percent of those surveyed said they are “considering” a move out of state. Sixty-one percent of them said California was too expensive, 27 percent said “California’s policies and laws do not reflect my political views,” and 10 percent cited an unspecified reason. A look at Los Angeles and San Francisco makes violent crime and homelessness a good guess. The Bay Area has drawn campaign trips from Democrat Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis within the last two weeks.

“You look around, the city is not vibrant anymore,” DeSantis said on a garbage-laden street corner smeared in graffiti for a backdrop. “It’s really collapsed because of leftist policies, and these policies have caused people to flee this area.”

The poll was sponsored by the Los Angeles Times in partnership with several local non-profits, including Strategies 360, the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, and the Los Angeles Urban League. Surveyors interviewed 1,354 adults in California online between June 6-16 with a 2.7 percent margin of error.

Just 28 percent, or less than 1 in 3, said the state was headed in the right direction compared to 43 percent who said otherwise. Nearly 60 percent reported dissatisfaction with local public