Should San Bernardino secede from California? Americans weigh in

More Americans oppose a proposal for San Bernardino County to secede from California and form its own state than support it, a new poll finds.

Earlier this month, a slim majority of San Bernardino voters voted for measure EE, which said county officials should “review and endorse all options to obtain the county’s fair share of state funding, including secession from the state of California.”

Overall, as of Nov. 8, 51.3 percent of San Bernardino voters supported the measure, versus 48.7 percent who opposed it.

According to a Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey conducted for news weekthe plan doesn’t attract much support across the country.

The poll found that just 29 percent of respondents think San Bernardino should be allowed to “separate” from the Golden State, versus 37 percent who oppose it. The remaining 34 percent answered “don’t know”.

A representative sample of 1,500 eligible voters across the United States were interviewed for the poll, conducted Nov. 17.

San Bernardino County had an estimated population of 2,181,654 according to the 2020 U.S. Census, more than the number recorded in 14 U.S. states.

Jeff Burum, a real estate magnate, is one of those who suggests that San Bernardino County should leave California due to the county’s lack of state-level support.

Speak with The San Bernardino Sun, He said: “I would never want to leave this state voluntarily.

“But I can tell you, if you continue to abuse me and us, sometimes you have no choice but to stand up for yourself.”

Burum also suggested that San Bernardino County should be called “Empire” when it becomes a separate state.

Under the US Constitution, San Bernardino County would require the approval of both Congress and the California Legislature to become a state in its own right.

The last time part of a state successfully seceded and became a separate state was in 1863, when West Virginia was incorporated into the United States as a state independent of Virginia.

There are full-fledged independence movements trying to break away from the US in a number of states, including Texas, Alaska and California

In June, the Texas Republican Party convention in Houston passed a motion proposing to hold a referendum on Texas’ secession from the union.

It read, “Texas reserves the right to secede from the United States and the Texas legislature should be encouraged to pass a referendum consistent therewith.”

Speak with news weekCynthia Nicoletti, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said it was unconstitutional for a state to choose to leave the union on its own.

She said: “States cannot unilaterally secede from the United States

“This was established both by the outcome of our Civil War and by the Supreme Court in Texas v. White of 1869. Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution also prohibits states from forming alliances, treaties, or confederations.”