Californians are skeptical that PG&E needed to shut off power to millions of people in recent weeks to avoid wildfires, and overwhelmingly say the utility is handling the blackouts poorly, according to a new poll by Change Research provided exclusively to KQED News.
But reflecting the tough choices in front of both PG&E and public officials, a majority of respondents — 55% — said they would rather lose power for several days than risk a wildfire, and just one-third of those polled said the decision to shut off power should be handed over to government officials.