California voters face several major ballot propositions in this year’s midterms, including two that ask sharply different questions: whether the state should impose a “one-time” wealth tax on its wealthiest residents through Proposition 40, and whether it should require voter ID in elections through Proposition 39. Early reports suggest many voters are embracing both, a combination Republicans should pay attention to.
According to the California Post, many Los Angeles voters are voting to approve both. They want stricter safeguards at the ballot box, but they’re also willing to give the state more power to tax wealth. For Republicans, that combination should raise a question: Winning voters over on election integrity is one thing, but are they doing enough to win the economic argument?
On the eve of Election Day, LA voters revealed an unexpected political crossover, with many supporting both the billionaire tax, a measure typically associated with Democrats, and voter ID requirements, a policy usually championed by Republicans. https://t.co/4qBHTd61eP https://t.co/sYJrRqTLum
— California Post (@californiapost) November 3, 2026
Many voters seemed perfectly comfortable with requiring ID to vote, describing it as common sense or noting that they already showed ID when casting their ballots. But they saw the wealth tax as common sense, too. Some didn’t care whether it caused billionaires to flee the state; others thought billionaires should be taxed even more than the proposed five percent.
While this was just a handful of voters, and it remains unclear how many across the state feel the same way, it raises an interesting question about who is driving support for progressive economics. Many Republicans have been quick to blame the foreign-born, but this serves as an important reminder that it is primarily a homegrown issue, one that requires actually changing minds, rather than simply deporting people.
Polling suggests both measures are headed for defeat statewide. A Berkeley IGS poll conducted in late October found Proposition 39, which would require voter ID, at just 37 percent support and 57 percent opposition, while Proposition 40, the wealth tax, stood at 42 percent support and 50 percent opposition. A separate PPIC poll completed also late last month found a similar pattern: 41 percent support and 58 percent opposition for Proposition 39, compared with 46 percent support and 52 percent opposition for Proposition 40.
The result to watch is Proposition 40, particularly after The Wall Street Journal argued last month that its passage could set the stage for a national wealth-tax push heading into 2028. California’s policies may stop at its borders, but its influence does not. The state has a bad habit of serving as a proving ground for progressive policies that supporters hope to take nationwide.
Conservatives can be thankful they don’t live in California, but that may not keep those policies from catching up with them. California, along with New York City, will likely continue to serve as a beachhead for progressivism on the national stage. Republicans need to take that seriously, and stand firm against these policies before they spread.