Election day is approaching. Tell us, Golden State voters: What matters most to you?

Good morning. It’s Friday, Sept. 20. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• With election day around the corner, we want to hear your top concerns.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of housing bills in an effort to create more affordable homes.
• Shohei Ohtani crushed his way into baseball history, becoming the first MLB player to reach (and then surpass) 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

Survey says...

Quick question: Are you registered to vote?

More than 22,170,000 of your fellow Californians were as of early July, a state record that’s only expected to increase when the secretary of state’s office updates its figures in the coming weeks.

The general election is less than seven weeks away. What’s the vibe from all those would-be voters? Not overly optimistic.

Even as more Californians signal their interest in participating in the democratic process, lack of trust in government and confidence in the future of the state and nation are considerable.

A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit research institution, asked adults and likely voters across the state how they felt about candidates and ballot measures, their overall trust in government and their confidence in the future of the state and nation.

This year’s survey, published Thursday, shows 55% of respondents believe the state is going in the wrong direction, compared with 43% who say it is going in the right direction.

Six in 10 Californians say they expect bad economic times in the coming year, though views on personal finances are more evenly split; 53% expect their own financial situation to remain about the same, nearly 25% believe it will improve, and another quarter expect it to be weaker.

It’s worth noting that the survey concluded before last week’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump, and before the Federal Reserve announced a significant cut in interest rates (and more slated).

The poll indicates notably more support for the Harris-Walz ticket over Trump-Vance (60% to 29%, respectively) and a similar ratio for the U.S. Senate race between Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff and Republican candidate Steve Garvey (63% to 35%). But in some competitive House races those margins narrow, especially in the Central Valley.

To state the obvious: Survey responses are not votes, and all polls should be taken with a grain of salt, aka a margin of error. Polling experts say it’s smart to double a poll’s stated margin of error (in this one, that’s plus or minus 3.1% for California adults and plus or minus 3.7% for likely voters surveyed) to account for issues beyond sampling errors.

Either way, the responses signal notable pessimism and mistrust among Californians — even if that’s improving slightly as we inch closer to Nov. 5.

Los Angeles County voters go to the polls in June 2022.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The survey finds that 56% of likely voters trust the state government to do what is right “only some of the time.” Roughly 68% of those likely voters say state government is “run by a few big interests,” compared with 84% who believe that about the federal government. Although a vast majority of registered Republicans express that sentiment, majorities of Democrats and independent voters also feel that way.

One part of the survey that stood out to me focused on state ballot measures. A strong majority of likely voters polled (87%) agree the citizen initiatives “bring up important public policy issues that the governor and legislature have not adequately addressed.” But the same percentage believe ballot measures are overly complicated and can be confusing for voters. Nearly 70% say there are too many initiatives on the ballot.

Although ballot measures to direct billions of state dollars to upgrade K-12 school facilities and improve the state’s climate resiliency are notably split along partisan lines — with the majority of Republicans opposed and most Democrats in favor — that partisanship fades for another high-profile initiative.

Proposition 36 seeks to alter parts of controversial Proposition 47 by imposing harsher criminal penalties for repeated theft and fentanyl-related offenses. PPIC’s poll found 71% of overall likely voters would approve the measure, compared with 26% who would vote no. That majority support holds across the state’s regions and political parties (63% of Democrats, 85% of Republicans and 74% of independents).

Californians also weighed in on the nation’s unique election process. A majority of both California adults and likely voters — about 7 in 10 — say they’d prefer to do away with the electoral college system and elect presidents by popular vote. Republicans are far less likely to support that idea, with 56% opposing.

Given this recent survey and our aim to bring you valuable election coverage in this newsletter, it seems like a good time to reintroduce our citizens agenda survey.

It was inspired by Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University who has been calling on news organizations to focus more on the voting public and less on the political class. So we asked:

Hundreds of you responded to our initial survey, and a few common concerns emerged.

Many readers wanted candidates to better outline their plans to address climate change, reduce homelessness, increase the state’s stock of housing, reform immigration policies, improve access to and the affordability of education, and rein in rising costs of living (including healthcare).

We’ve revamped the survey and hope you can take a few moments to share your concerns and expectations for the people who want you to grant them power this November.

You can take the survey here. And look out for more coverage of the issues you care about in future editions as we trod closer to election day.

Today’s top stories

Former Los Angeles police Assistant Chief Robert Arcos, left, Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and former L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell.

(Los Angeles Times)

Mayor Karen Bass won’t say who’s in the running for LAPD chief. But her visitors offer clues.

• Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides and Robert “Bobby” Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works in the L.A. County district attorney’s office, were seen arriving at the mayor’s mansion for interviews this week.
• Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who also served in the LAPD, is also said to be a finalist.
• All three contenders have deep ties to the LAPD even amid growing calls from within the department for an outsider to bring change. Bass is expected to pick the city’s new police chief by the end of the month.

In an effort to create more affordable homes, Gov. Newsom signed a package of housing bills.

• The new laws aim to boost the availability of housing in a variety of ways, including streamlining the approval for certain projects and requiring that local municipalities create plans to house the most vulnerable Californians.
• The news comes as many experts are waiting to see how the housing market will be affected by the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to cut interest rates.
• Meanwhile, a pilot program offers Long Beach homeowners up to $250,000 in low-interest loans to build ADUs.

A battle roils over who can access beaches along the bucolic Russian River

• Many of the beaches along the Russian River in western Sonoma County are public, according to state and federal law. But people who have purchased riverfront property do not always see it that way.
• Skirmishes have ensued, battles big and small involving private security guards, aggressively lobbed golf balls, surveillance cameras, bolt cutters, beach chairs and reams of legal filings, among other weapons.

Shohei Ohtani crushed his way into baseball history

• Ohtani became the first MLB player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season. He ended the Dodger’s 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins with 51-51 — plus a clinched playoff spot for the team.
• His reaction? “Just happy, relieved and very respectful to the peers and everybody that came before that played this sport of baseball,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton.

More big stories

• Social media platforms engaged in “vast surveillance” and failed to protect young people, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
• California’s local news deal with Google leaves lots of unanswered questions.
• Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against Newsmax is headed to trial.
• California Bible college students claim they were confined, surveilled and made to do unpaid labor.
• A lawyer accused of helping the Mexican Mafia could avoid prison with a guilty plea.
• A Yellowstone visitor was scalded in thermal pool hot enough to burn people to death.
• A luxury yacht with 1,000 rounds of ammunition and fireworks burned in Marina del Rey.
• Here’s what you need to know about Earth’s new, temporary mini-moon.

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Commentary and opinions

• From one parent to Republicans: Stop using our children as political footballs, columnist Mary McNamara writes.
• California voters are fed up with crime and, apparently, the response by Democrats, columnist George Skelton writes.
• The Pentagon’s former top UFO hunter talks about COVID-19, Haitian pet-eaters and pseudoscience generally, columnist Michael Hiltzik writes.
• Lonely and depressed at 50, writer Tara Ellison launched her own midlife reboot.
• The Sparks’ dud owners need to buy into the hot WNBA — or sell the team, columnist Bill Plaschke writes.

Today’s great reads

(Andri Tambunan / For The Times)

This daredevil has one of the most dangerous acts at the circus. His priest is on standby. A Sunday at Circus Vargas in California begins with Mass said by Father Frank Cancro and ends with performer Daniel Eguino riding a motorcycle in the Globe of Death.

Other great reads

• The civil war inside the Republican Party deep in the heart of Texas.
• China’s flagging economy — and Kanye West — give each other a helping hand.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

For your downtime

Demi Moore in the movie “The Substance.”

(Christine Tamalet / Mubi)

Going out

• 🎥 Demi Moore is boldly exposed as an aging Oscar winner rejected by her producer in the hyperstylized satire “The Substance,” which is out in theaters today.
• 🍴 A former Melrose coffee shop makes the case that tiny restaurants are the best restaurants.
• 🧛 Classic alternative rock albums meet silent movies in the new series “Silents Synced,” which launches with “Nosferatu X Radiohead” at American Cinematheque.
• 🇲🇽 Here are the seven best spots in L.A. to experience the upbeat sounds of música Mexicana.
• 🎸 The Belly Up celebrates 50 years of bringing rock, reggae and rowdy good times to Solana Beach.
• 🛒 A gay drama about two lost souls finding tenderness at Costco receives its West Coast premiere at the Echo Theater Company.

Staying in

• 📺 “Agatha All Along” and “The Penguin” prove that the superior universe is on television, our critic writes.
• 🎲 A TV writer crafted her most powerful narrative yet — in the form of a board game.
• 🥗 Here’s a recipe for eggplant bourguignon.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you.

Today’s great photo is from Irwin Segel of Davis: Salmon Creek Beach in Sonoma County.

Irwin writes: “The beaches of the Pacific Ocean along the Northern California coast are not as populated nor as sun-drenched as those of the Southern California coast, which are justifiably celebrated. Nevertheless, the northern beaches have their own special, quiet beauty.”

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Amy Hubbard, deputy editor, Fast Break

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.