It’s the two-minute warning, and California’s sports betting ballot measures aren’t in position to make a fourth-quarter comeback.
Latest polling from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) indicates that 26% of voters will vote “yes” on online sports betting Prop 27. Tribal in-person sports betting Prop 26 fares a little better with 34% support.
With less than two weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election, two-thirds (67%) of voters surveyed say they will vote no on Prop 27.
“Propositions 26 and 27 both fall well short of majority support,” PPIC president and CEO Mark Baldassare said. “Few California voters have a personal interest in sports gambling and many say that legalizing it would be a bad thing for the state.”
PPIC had most recently released a poll six weeks ago. Back then, Prop 27 had support from 34% of Californians surveyed. PPIC did not previously survey Prop 26.
Polling numbers getting worse for Prop 27
Voters were asked how they would vote based on what will appear on the ballot for each proposition — proposition number, ballot label and language.
Prop 27 fails across all political parties, regions and demographic groups. Prop 26 only has slight support (51%) among voters ages 18 to 44.
The Institute conducted the study of 1,715 adults, 1,111 considered likely voters, between Oct. 14 and 23.
But a poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies three weeks ago cited 27% support for Prop 27 and 31% support for Prop 26. So Prop 26 seems to have made a modest gain.
CA voters don’t support sports betting in general
At a panel earlier this month at the Global Gaming Expo, tribal members reasserted their claim that voters are soft on California sports betting.
The independent PPIC polling backs up this point. The Institute stated that California voters have a low level of interest in gambling on sports. Only 9% of likely voters say they are personally interested in sports betting.
Additionally, 48% of those surveyed say that legalizing sports betting in California would be a bad thing.
The numbers show that there needs to be a paradigm shift on how the majority of Californians view sports betting for a proposal to pass in 2024.
