Would Americans support splitting California into 3 states?

Republicans (27%) were the political group most likely to say they “strongly” supported the proposal to split California into three states.

California voters this year will decide if they want to split their state into three separate states, after an initiative called “Cal 3” received enough signatures to make it onto the November ballot. The proposal by venture capitalist Tim Draper would split the state into three parts: Northern California, Southern California, and California, which would encompass Los Angeles County and many of the central coastal counties including Santa Barbara and Monterey.

Nearly a third of Americans (31%) would “strongly” or “somewhat” support this initiative, according to new data from YouGov. A slightly larger number (36%) said they would oppose it, while the remaining 33% of people said they were not sure.

Republicans (27%) were the political group most likely to say they “strongly” supported the proposal, though an almost-equal number of Democrats (28%) said they “somewhat” supported it. People who are between 18 and 24 years old were also largely in favor of the idea, with 50% saying they strongly or somewhat supported the idea, compared to 37% of people in this demographic who opposed it.

When looking at regional breakdowns, people who live in the western region of the US - which includes California - were mostly opposed to the initiative (39%) or unsure (38%) about it. Meanwhile, the region most likely to “strongly” (18%) or “somewhat” (27%) support the proposal to split California in three was the Midwest.