Many/most Repuicans are watching Fox News and following websites that constantly tell them that "Libs" and Democrats are terrible people who want to repress them. Gavin Newsom is characterized as tyrannical in imposing COVID restrictions, etc. No wonder they want to leave. Which is not all bad....

This is the market speaking: it's gotten way too expensive for most people to live here. They should respond to market signals and consider moving elsewhere. That will cause demand to for Bay Area housing to drop and prices will come down until a balance is achieved. We should encourage major employers to hire elsewhere, certainly offering near-Bay-Area wages in more affordable places (Austin, Colorado Spring, Boise, Bozeman etc etc) should result in ample candidates while exporting our higher home costs to those attractive locations and displacing the locals. We have a deficit of .5M housing units in the bay area, and it seems to cost us $1M to build even BMR units in Mountain View, so it's really unlikely that we can fund that many units even at "for sale, market rates" so we've got to work on reducing demand. The survey says people want "quality of life" which is another way of saying "single family homes in nice neighborhoods." Maybe SB9 will degrade QoL enough to depress demand but that's going to take a long time.

The article states that "the opinion was felt strongest among people ages 50 to 64 and those making a household income between $100,000 and $250,000."
IF these people move out, that could create more jobs and even housing for the younger workers who choose to be here.
My perception is that many discontented people in this age group (50-64) have raised their children, no longer count on our public schools, and are empty-nesters who have the flexibility to move on.

It's almost pointless to make a survey like this.

No matter what people say about their responses, it's heavily a response to situations which were beyond anyone's control, and also to imagined future developments after the pandemic eases.

People who actually sell homes and depart will also be heavily motivated by the extreme appreciation in their homes over the past year. It's not just dread of high home values, but rather it's time to CASH IN. All of a sudden even recent purchasers from 2 years back qualify for income tax exclusion on $500K in appreciation that occurred over just 2 years. If they leave California the property tax on a new home will likely be less than they are paying on what they have here (unless they bought over 10 years ago, not the prevalent case.)

So are they going to answer the survey "Just as many people have already quit their jobs, the pandemic makes me feel like I'm ripe for change, and I can also pocket $500K in tax free profit if I leave the Bay Area. I am disgusted at the situation." or will it be portrayed as meaning something more?

So if 56% of our residents leave within a few (3) years, that should pretty much solve our housing challenges. Right?

Let's review the poll and the methodology before we report it. By reporting it, we are suggesting it is accurate.