Californians have turned pessimistic about the outlook for the state’s economy.

According to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Thursday, 58 percent of 2,004 residents surveyed said they expect the state will have bad times financially over the next 12 months. That’s up from 49 percent in May and 40 percent in September 2004. Only 32 percent of respondents said they expect the state to have good economic conditions, down from 39 percent in May and 46 percent in September 2004.

Los Angeles County basically mirrored the statewide results, with 59 percent of respondents saying they expect the next 12 months will be bad financially while 31 percent said times would be good financially.

Eighty-three percent of California respondents said they expect the price of gasoline will hurt the California economy over the next six months, while 57 percent said they have suffered financial hardship from the price of gasoline. In Los Angeles County, the figures were 84 percent and 61 percent, respectively.

Also, 70 percent of statewide respondents said they were either very concerned or somewhat concerned that Hurricane Katrina will cause a recession.

In other findings from the survey, just 33 percent of California respondents said they approved of the way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is handling his job, while only 32 percent approve of the Legislature’s job performance. For L.A., the governor fared even worse, with 26 percent approval, while the Legislature logged a 30 percent approval rate.

The poll also showed that none of the special election initiatives originally supported by Schwarzenegger Proposition 74 (teacher tenure), Proposition 76 (spending limits) and Proposition 77 (redistricting) has majority support among California voters. And 55 percent of L.A. region residents said they think the special election is a bad idea.