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.
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.
Here is the full text of the third Independent California Poll, currently being conducted by YouGov.
We should have results by the end of June. If you’d like to get on the list for our press release, please email press@ic.institute.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
A 2025 survey of California voters suggested that a majority of respondents support a peaceful secession from the United States. But, a lot of our health care system is interconnected with the federal government. What happens if California breaks away on its own?
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.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of “secession” mentions the Independent California Institute in one of their example sentences:
The recent survey was conducted while fires were still active between Jan. 6 and Jan. 14 by the YouGov firm for another secession outfit, the Independent California Institute, based in north San Diego County.
