Support for California High-Speed Rail is surging. So is California’s economic capacity to finish the project. - CleanTechnica

A recent Politico-UC Berkeley poll reveals that support for California’s high-speed rail project has surged to 67% among registered voters, including 82% of Democrats. This marks an increase of over 10 percentage points compared to previous surveys, with particularly strong backing from voters in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area (both 71%), young voters aged 18-34 (82%), and Black voters (81%). This growing public support persists despite federal threats to withdraw $4 billion in grants under the Trump administration. The project aims to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco via a 500-mile bullet train, a transformative infrastructure endeavor. California’s economic capacity to complete the high-speed rail is underscored by its gross domestic product surpassing $4.1 trillion, making it the world’s fourth-largest economy, ahead of Japan. Advocates highlight Japan’s successful mid-20th-century development of an extensive 1,800-mile bullet train network on a landmass slightly smaller than California