California voters don't want to let their people go.
Back in September, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 for a declaration of secession. They want other rural counties in Northern California and Southern Oregon to join them in the creation of a new state called the State of Jefferson.
But the state's northernmost counties won't be able to secede and make their own state without a fight, according to the most-recent Field Poll, which revealed 58 percent of voters don't favor allowing Modoc and Siskiyou counties to split off and form the 51st U.S. state of Jefferson, according to reports.
Across the state, 25 percent of voters cotton to the notion of letting the sparsely-populated northern, rural counties to spin off and have their own government.
But support in the north, where voters feel that people to which they are not connected have all the power, is strong, according to officials there.
MORE: NorCal County Votes for Secession From State
“I just think it’s an aversion to breaking up California,” poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee. “They look at the whole state as one entity, and they’re not thinking too fondly of different parts of the state splitting off.”
Another proposal would designate the participating counties as a special territory called "Jefferson Republic," which would establish the legal framework for creating an additional government but would technically stay part of California and Oregon, according to the Field Poll.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
