Plentiful Popplies. By Kevin (slworking2 on Flickr). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Poll: Californians ready to govern themselves, stop just short of secession

ICI June 29, 2025

50% of Californians say they trust Sacramento more than Washington—only 23% say the reverse.

71% say California would be better off with special autonomous status within the U.S.

44% of Californians would vote for a ballot measure for peaceful, legal secession—but 54% would vote against.

72% of Californians want California police to arrest federal immigration officers that exceed their authority or act maliciously.

80% of Californians want to control borders with other states “like a country.”

Californians endorse more than a dozen changes to state policy that would make California more autonomous.

By Jon S (NS Newsflash). CC BY 2.0

Press Release: Poll: Californians ready to govern themselves, but slim majority would sink secession initiative

ICI June 29, 2025

Carlsbad, CA: A record 71% of Californians said they would be better off if California negotiated special autonomous status within the U.S., giving Californians more control over decisions currently made by the federal government, in a poll conducted this June. The poll was conducted by YouGov for the Independent California Institute, a non-profit think-tank.

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Connecting California: On July 4, Californians should pull down our American flags

ICI June 15, 2025

Joe Mathews: C.C. Marin, director of the Independent California Institute, encourages challenges to the custom of American flag supremacy, and urges us just to fly the California flag instead.

“California’s state flag is a powerful symbol of resistance and unity in the face of a cruel, lawless presidential administration,” Marin wrote recently. “Flags remind us who’s in charge. California is not and has never been a subsidiary of the federal government. … Voluntarily flying our own flag below the American flag is literally a symbol of inferiority and compliance.”

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The Atlantic: Trump vs. California

ICI June 11, 2025

David A. Graham: Under Donald Trump, the federal government is like a bad parent: never there when you need him but eager to stick his nose in your business when you don’t want him to.

If California is not getting disaster aid but is getting hostile deployments of federal troops, Californians might find it harder to see what’s in it for them. No wonder one poll commissioned by an advocacy group earlier this year found that 61 percent of the state’s residents thought California would be better off as a separate nation.

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Do California cities have to fly the American flag?

C.C. Marin May 27, 2025

California’s state flag is a powerful symbol of resistance and unity in the face of a cruel, lawless presidential administration. Across California, people are taking down their American flags and flying the California flag instead.

What if Californians want our elected local governments to do the same thing? Is that legal? And if not, what else can we do?

There are at least four big opportunities for pro-independence activists to organize locally around how California governments fly flags. But first, we need to know the law inside and out.

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The not-so-subtle connection between ICI and ‘Uncle Patrick’s Secessionist Breakfast’

C.C. Marin May 24, 2025

Have you read “Uncle Patrick’s Secessionist Breakfast,” the latest short story by California author Dave Eggers? It takes the debate about California secession, and wraps it up in a cute story about a family reunion at a California family ranch.

Fiction is so important to social change, for the simple reason that you need to be able to imagine something before you can do it. For California independence, such works are few and far between.

You might ask, what matters more to a movement, works of fiction like Dave Eggers’ that capture the imagination, or in-depth, fact-based research like ours? Well… both? Here’s why.

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The Drain (podcast): California Independence, with Coyote Marin of the Independent California Institute

ICI April 29, 2025

Did you know that California recently passed Japan as the fourth largest economy in the world? It’s true. Even within the US, our state is a powerhouse, comprising 1/7 of the US economy.

In fact, California put $83 billion more into the country in taxes in 2022 than we received in programs and benefits. That’s what we call a donor state.

Add all of that to Washington, D.C. spiraling deeper into fascism every day, and it’s worthwhile asking if the people of California would be better off on their own.