According to a new Reuters / Ipsos poll, a record number of disaffected, Hillary-supporting Californians now support secession from the United States because they're just so "triggered" by Trump's victory. If successful, California would become the single largest "safe space" in the world.
Per the poll, 1 in every 3 Californians now support a "peaceful withdrawal from the union," which is a substantial increase from the 20% who favored such a withdrawal the last time a similar poll was conducted in 2014.
One in every three California residents supports the most populous U.S. state's peaceful withdrawal from the union, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, many of them Democrats strongly opposed to Trump's ascension to the country's highest office.
The 32 percent support rate is sharply higher than the last time the poll asked Californians about secession, in 2014, when one-in-five or 20 percent favored it around the time Scotland held its independence referendum and voted to remain in the United Kingdom.
California also far surpasses the national average favoring secession, which stood at 22 percent, down from 24 percent in 2014.
Of course, as most of the country made a shift to the right in November's election, California continued it's steady march to the left with Democrats now controlling a super-majority in both houses of the legislature.
As Reuters notes, many Cali residents felt triggered by Trump's promises to actually enforce immigration laws and repeal Obamacare with one Democrat consultant saying that "many citizens believe it would be smarter to leave than fight."
"I don't think it's likely to happen, but if things get really bad it could be an option," said Stephen Miller, 70, a retired transportation planner who lives in Sacramento and told pollsters he "tended to support" secession.
During the campaign, Trump alienated many in the Democratic-leaning state with his promises to crack down on illegal immigration, threats of creating a Muslim registry, remarks women found offensive and vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
"There's such hostility towards Trump that many citizens believe it would be smarter to leave than fight," said Democratic political consultant Steve Maviglio, who last year ran the campaign against a proposed ballot initiative to break California into six states.
Meanwhile, Jerry Brown recently struck a more aggressive tone saying that California was "ready to fight" with the Trump administration over climate change initiatives.
“We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers and we’re ready to fight.”
"Some people say that they're going to turn off the satellites that are monitoring the climate. I remember back in 1978 I proposed a satellite for California. They called me Governor Moonbeam because of that. I didn't get that moniker for nothing. And if Trump turns off his satellites, California will launch it's own damn satellites. We're going to collect that data."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVlhSljxP7I
And not surprisingly, Californians continue to express their frustration over their election loss with a series of never ending protests and destruction of private property...but clearly it's the fault of Republicans that they're unemployed.
On Friday, activists from the group waved signs saying "California out of the United States" and "U.S. out of California" at anti-Trump protests in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Marinelli said. They have requested approval from the state to begin collecting signatures for a pro-secession ballot initiative.
In Lodi, California, Democratic party activist Bruce Rubly, who told Reuters/Ipsos pollsters that he "strongly supported" California secession, said he thinks it
could happen if Trump and the Republicans who dominate the U.S. Congress impose conservative policies on such issues as the environment, immigration and marijuana legalization.
"There's a whole series of things that are going to get Californians riled up," said Rubly, 68. "And if he pushes those buttons in the wrong way, there's going to be hell to pay."
While Calexit will never happen, no matter how hard Cali's disaffected millennials dream it, we suspect there are about 60 million American voters between the coasts that would welcome the permanently conservative United States that would result from such a move....it might just be a win-win.