The Independent California Institute released a new poll purporting that more than 60% of Californians agree that they “would be better off California if peacefully seceded from the U.S. at some point in the next 10 years.”
The Bulwark: Extorting With Disaster: Why Stop At California?
Jill Lawrence: California is an easy target, but it’s far more than that. It would be comparable to Canada if it were its own country, and that is not as far-fetched as it seems. A poll released January 19, as Trump was about to take office, showed 61 percent of Californians favor a peaceful “Calexit” and 77 percent said California should control its state borders “more like a country.” A few days later, as Trump was about to visit, the California secretary of state cleared a petition drive to get a secession proposal onto the 2028 ballot.
Trump wants to be the president who annexed Greenland and Canada, not the one who lost California. If there’s a lesson here, it may be make love, not war, and stop referring to the governor as “Gavin Newscum.” Trump has a country. The question is whether he can keep it.
Press Release: 66% of Californians want an autonomy commission. It shouldn’t take an initiative to get them one.
Carlsbad, CA: 61% of Californians said they would be better off California if peacefully seceded from the U.S. at some point in the next ten years, in a poll conducted in the weeks before Inauguration Day. This is the highest favorability towards secession ever recorded in a California poll.
CalMatters: If California split from the US and became a nation, it would be comparable to Canada
Legendary California reporter Dan Walters covers our poll for CalMatters:
The transcontinental sniping raises an old question: Could California sever ties with the United States and once again become an independent country? The San Diego County-based Independent California Institute thinks so.
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Poll fact sheet: YOU ARE NOT ALONE
A very simple fact sheet with highlights from the January 2025 Independent California Poll. Perfect for printing and distributing at rallies, farmer’s markets, and other “Poll fact sheet: YOU ARE NOT ALONE”
Press Release: On Eve of Trump Inauguration, Californians Eye Secession
Carlsbad, CA: 61% of Californians said they would be better off California if peacefully seceded from the U.S. at some point in the next ten years, in a poll conducted in the weeks before Inauguration Day. This is the highest favorability towards secession ever recorded in a California poll.
Poll: As Trump Is Inaugurated, Californians Seek Independence
Highlights: 61% of Californians polled say California would be better off if it peacefully seceded. 77% say California should control its state borders “more like a country”. 63% support using hardball tactics in the U.S. House to gain autonomy. Californians now feel more Californian than American overall.
Please submit press inquiries to press@ic.institute.
Democracy Local: How to Achieve Local Autonomy
Fully 68% of Californians believe that California would be better off if California negotiated a special autonomous status within the U.S., according to a poll that my think tank, the Independent California Institute, commissioned from YouGov earlier this year…. Why might Californians want more independence from the federal government?
Data release: the Independent California Poll
As promised, here is all the raw data behind the Independent California Poll. If you use this data, please give us and the pollster credit, “Data release: the Independent California Poll”