A new poll says most Californians think their state is headed in the wrong direction, nearly half have thought about leaving, and they plan to elect more of the same by 15.7 points. Everyone is going to tell you that's crazy. Everyone is wrong, and so are you.

Here are the numbers, because I don't make them up; I only make them feel bad. The California Post poll, conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, surveyed 800 voters from October 17 to 20. Democrat Xavier Becerra leads Republican Steve Hilton 55 percent to 39.3 percent, with 4.9 percent undecided. Meanwhile, 56.2 percent say the state is on the wrong track, just 30.1 percent say it's on the right one, and 44 percent have seriously considered leaving in the past four years.

Conservatives look at that and see hypocrisy. I see loyalty. Californians are the only people on Earth who can look at a tent on the sidewalk, a moving-truck quote and their own poll answers, then say, "Let's lock in four more years of this."

The pollster, John McLaughlin, put it plainly: "They will vote for Becerra and hope for the best." Hope for the best is not a governing philosophy. It is what you say right before you open your electric bill.

USC political analyst Dan Schnur explained the rest: "In most places, angry voters turn to the alternative. Here in California, voters simply don't see an alternative, so they grudgingly stick with what they've got." Grudgingly stick with what they've got. That's not an electorate. That's a marriage that stopped going to counseling.

Now let me turn on my own team, since nobody else will. Republicans love to say Californians are finally waking up. Hilton gets 6 percent of Democrats. Six. You can't win a state where the other party makes up 47 percent of the sample and you're pulling numbers usually reserved for a write-in vote for In-N-Out. McLaughlin estimates Hilton needs at least 55 percent of independents and roughly a quarter of Democrats. He currently trails among independents 46 to 44. The math isn't uphill. The math is a cliff with a "Scenic Overlook" sign.

And Becerra? He was California's attorney general, then Joe Biden's health secretary. McLaughlin says he has put enough distance between himself and Gavin Newsom to convince voters he's a "fresh start." Becerra's fresh start is a guy who has been in California and federal government for decades. That's like calling the leftovers fresh because you moved them to a new Tupperware.

But here's where you, the reader, are wrong too. You think this proves Californians are dumb. It proves they're consistent. Democrats have run the state since 2011, and voters keep reporting the same results like a smoke detector nobody plans to fix. Of the Democrats surveyed, 52 percent still say the state is headed in the right direction. That's not denial. That's brand loyalty.

So the forecast stands: wrong direction, full speed, nobody touching the wheel. Forty-four percent of Californians have thought about leaving. The other 56 percent are just waiting to see who drives the moving truck, and they'll vote for him too.

This article is satire. The Demorat is a parody news site; jokes and commentary are layered on top of real reported events. Quotes from real people are drawn from published reporting.

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