Field Poll: Voter Support For Gov.'s Tax Hike Dips

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A new Field Poll finds that Gov. Jerry Brown's November tax-hike initiative has only slim support.

Just 51 percent of likely California voters said they back it while 38 percent oppose it. A rival tax initiative to fund schools remains below the critical 50 percent threshold.

The Field Poll, released Thursday, is the second public opinion survey in two days that finds Brown with falling support for his tax plan.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday found the governor's Proposition 30 had support from 52 percent of likely voters with 40 percent opposed.

The surveys also indicate that support has fallen slightly since mid-summer. Even so, Brown's tax campaign remained optimistic, calling support for the tax increase "strong and steady."

Field and the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley jointly interviewed 1,183 registered California voters by telephone from Sept. 6-18. The poll has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points for the 902 likely voters surveyed.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.