These findings, in a new UC Irvine survey<\/a> of 1,202 local adults, reflect ongoing division in what has become one of the nation\u2019s most politically split counties. The latest tally of local voter registration breaks down to 36.4% Democrats, 33.9% Republicans and 23.3% who are listed as no party preference, according to the California secretary of state.<\/p>\n Put another way: With the 2026 midterm primary vote<\/a> about a month away, Orange County is still purple.<\/p>\n And political experts say the frustrations reflected in the UCI survey could offer a roadmap for how successful candidates might engage voters and shape policy proposals.<\/p>\n \u201cAs one of the very few purple counties in America, what happens here in Orange County is a reflection of what\u2019s going on nationwide,\u201d Jon B. Gould, poll director and dean of the UCI School of Ecology, said. \u201cIf so many voters here are dissatisfied, that should be a big warning sign to this administration that there is a problem they need to address \u2014 and soon.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to Trump, 62% of locals disapprove of the president\u2019s performance, while just 35% approve.<\/p>\n Of course, those numbers change by party; 95% of local Democrats disapprove of Trump, while 84% of Republicans give him a thumbs up. Independents, however, lean negative, with 70% disapproving.<\/p>\n Locals are just as angry about the state of the state\u2019s politics, with just 38% approving and 55% disapproving of Newsom\u2019s job performance, according to the UCI survey.<\/p>\n Views on Newsom, as they do with Trump, fluctuate by political party, though the differences aren\u2019t as stark. UCI found 87% of local Republicans disapprove of the governor, while 70% of Democrats hold a favorable view of his leadership of California. Independents lean negative, with 57% disapproving of Newsom and only 30% approving.<\/p>\n When it comes to the overall direction of the country and the state, most locals say both are on the wrong track.<\/p>\n UCI found 62% of county residents believe the country isn\u2019t faring well. But that feeling, the survey found, isn\u2019t bipartisan; Democrats (88%) and independents (66%) say the country is in bad shape, while 62% of Republicans believe the opposite.<\/p>\n The UCI poll found a similar divide \u2014 with different parties playing different roles \u2014\u00a0on the state of California. Overall, 57% of locals say the state is headed in the wrong direction, with Republicans (83%) and independents (57%) driving that number, while Democrats are nearly split, with 49% holding a favorable view of the state\u2019s political direction.<\/p>\n The UCI poll also asked locals for their views on Orange County politics.<\/p>\n On that front, just 41%, overall, say the county is on the right track, while 36% say it\u2019s not.\u00a0 Democrats nearly mirror those results (40% approval; 32% disapproval) while Republicans (46% vs. 39%) are slightly more bullish on the county. Independents, according to the UCI poll, break dead-even (37% vs. 37%) on the direction of local politics.<\/p>\n Such broad and deep political dissatisfaction isn\u2019t new in Orange County, Gould said, noting that UCI\u2019s 2024 survey<\/a> found similar results.<\/p>\n What\u2019s different, though, are the reasons.<\/p>\n Before the 2024 election, with President Joe Biden in office, Democrats were fine with the direction of the country and OK with the direction of California, Gould said. Republicans, meanwhile, were quite displeased with both the U.S. and California. While the latest poll shows Democrats are still relatively OK with the state of California, sentiments have flipped on the national level.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans and Democrats continue to see the world differently,\u201d Gould said. \u201cEspecially when it comes to evaluating their leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n What about the midterms?<\/p>\n So, with ballots slated to be mailed to every registered California voter in about a month, how might UCI\u2019s survey findings affect the midterms?<\/p>\n Well, that differs depending on whether you\u2019re talking about the gubernatorial race or congressional contests. Again, Orange County shows its purple stripes.<\/p>\n Nearly 1 in 3 county residents still don\u2019t back a specific candidate for governor, and a small faction of locals say they don\u2019t plan to vote on that race, according to the UCI survey.<\/p>\n But when pushed to actually make a selection, the two main Republicans in the gubernatorial race, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, come out on top, 23% and 14% respectively.<\/p>\n They were followed by candidates in the much more crowded field of Democrats, including billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter (who once represented a slice of Orange County), who are tied at 14%; followed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, at 9%; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, at 7%; and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, each at 4%.<\/p>\n The UCI findings largely mirror what statewide polling has found in the governor\u2019s race, including a survey released earlier this week from the California Democratic Party<\/a> that showed Hilton and Bianco in the lead, followed by Swalwell, Steyer and Porter.<\/p>\n No candidate is running away with overwhelming support among voters ahead of the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n That has led to concerns within Democratic circles that Bianco and Hilton could lock out Democrats in the upcoming race, since California election rules let the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of political party.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OCR-L-UCIPOLL-0409.jpg\")
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