Poll reveals 1 in 3 Californians support 'Calexit'

A new poll suggests one in three California residents would support a possible secession from the U.S. because of their opposition to President Donald Trump.

"There's such hostility towards Trump that many citizens believe it would be smarter to leave than fight," Democratic political strategist Steve Maviglio told Reuters.

Maviglio ran a campaign in 2016 against an initiative to break California into six separate states.

A Reuters survey revealed Monday that 32 percent support the so-called “Calexit,” an increase of 12 percent since the last poll was conducted in 2014 – during the same time Scotland held its independence referendum and chose to stay in the United Kingdom.

National poll results revealed 22 percent favored secession, down from 24 percent in 2014.

According to Reuters, the poll questioned 500 Californians among more than 14,000 others nationwide from Dec. 9 to Jan. 19. The poll’s margin of error in California was 5 percentage points and 1 percentage point among nationwide adults.

Yes California, a group promoting the idea of a peaceful secession from the union, submitted a measure in November to the state attorney general’s office in hopes a referendum could reach the 2018 election.

The Los Angeles Times reported the group says that Californians are “culturally different” from the rest of the U.S. and that the media and other organizations hammer Californians for being “out of touch.”

“We always thought that if we just connected with the people who thought about this, but didn’t tell their friends and family because they would be seen as kooky and weird, that the quiet population would become vocal,” Marcus Evans, vice president of Yes California, told the Sacramento Bee.

He added that if California would to successfully secede, it would be the sixth largest economy in the world.