California voters have not given up on the state’s high-speed rail project, even though they aren’t confident it will ever be completed, according to an exclusive POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab poll.
What happened: Sixty-two percent of the 1,445 registered voters polled said they support the state continuing construction on the rail line that is supposed to link the Bay Area to Los Angeles, but which has been beset by delays and massive cost overruns. The poll revealed a sharp partisan split on the project, which has served as a political punching bag for the Trump administration: 62 percent of Republican voters said the project is too expensive or mismanaged and should be canceled, while only 21 percent of Democrats took that stance. More than half of independents — 55 percent — said construction should continue.
Democrats’ support for high-speed rail, however, is far from absolute. While a third of respondents said they back California spending more state funds after President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation canceled $4 billion in federal grants, 38 percent said they will support continued construction only if the project keeps to its current budget.
Despite their support, Democratic voters are not confident that the rail line will be built all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Just 27 percent said there’s a high likelihood the project will be finished, while 47 percent said there’s a low likelihood and 26 percent were unsure. Those numbers largely mirrored feelings across political affiliation, as 23 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of independents said there’s a high likelihood the project will be completed. The project, originally slated for completion by 2020, is expected to open its initial line connecting Bakersfield to Merced in 2033, with no projected date for final completion. The project is now estimated to cost up to $128 billion, nearly four times its original $33 billion price tag.
