The survey's focus on population is not an abstract concern: Demographers predict that the state's population is likely to increase from 37 million now to 46 million by 2025 and the majority of those surveyed (55 percent) say this is a "bad thing."

And yet: Thirty-six percent of Californians say the ideal number of children to have is three or more.

In addition, 72 percent believe teen pregnancy rates have increased or remained the same even though they actually have decreased across the state.

Are people really this confused and contradictory?

"There's a lot of work to be done," said survey director Mark Baldassare. "People don't have a basic understanding about the dynamics driving growth these days."

He was especially taken aback by the misplaced focus on immigration as a culprit in the swelling of the state.

"I was most surprised by the fact that most Californians don't fully appreciate the role of births in population growth," Baldassare said. "One other thing that struck me is the broad consensus for programs that promote birth control and sex education _ support across racial and ethnic and regional and political categories to make birth control accessible and available."

The single greatest contributor to the state's population increase is births to residents _ almost half in recent years have been to immigrant women. There have been about 500,000 births annually in California in the 2000s, and the rate is projected to stay at that level, or rise above it, for the next decade.

The survey, which has a 2 percent sampling error and was conducted in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, contained other unexpected tidbits as well.

For example, 71 percent of respondents do not want a reversal of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Even 52 percent of respondents who described themselves as evangelical Christians want it to stick around. "Most people do not want to change the basic laws and structures of the land," Baldassare said.

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