BURBANK—With his popularity at an all-time low, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned Monday to another political star - Sen. John McCain - to help sell his November ballot proposals to a skeptical public.

In a brief, joint appearance with the governor in a hotel conference room, the Arizona senator urged California voters to support the four initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger on the special election ballot. They said little about the specifics of the proposals and instead depicted them broadly as an important step in efforts to make government more accountable.

“I have campaigned for reform efforts all over the country,” McCain said. “What happens in California has significant effect in states like mine that are nearby. It’s just a reality.”

Schwarzenegger is pushing a quartet of proposals that he has described as medicine for a sickly government. They would strip political clout from public employee unions, give the governor a tighter grip on state spending, toughen tenure requirements for teachers and deny legislators the power to draw their own district boundaries.

The election has created a showdown between the Republican governor and the unions, with both sides raising millions of dollars for the campaign.

McCain was particularly critical of allowing officeholders a hand in how districts are created, saying the current system has given “permanent incumbency status” to members of Congress and the state Legislature. The proposal backed by the governor would designate a panel of retired judges to carve out districts, a change supporters have said would create a more moderate, less gridlock-prone Legislature.

“We need more competitive races,” said McCain, known nationally for his efforts to retool the campaign-finance system. “We need the voice of moderation.”

McCain’s visit comes at a crucial time for Schwarzenegger. With the election less than a month away, three of the four initiatives he supports are trailing in polls, and many Californians have turned cold on his leadership.

Once a politician without peer in the state, Schwarzenegger’s popularity collapsed after months of squabbling with firefighters, nurses and teachers who oppose his policies and ballot initiatives.

Recent polls have found only one in three voters approve of Schwarzenegger’s performance, and he is broadly unpopular within some key voter groups, including independents and Hispanics.

One of the governor’s other problems is time - some voters have already received vote-by-mail ballots. But those same polls show a significant number of voters has yet to focus on the election, suggesting their votes are in play.

“The governor’s initiatives are running behind but he still has a chance to turn opinion around,” said John Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College, who once worked as an analyst for House Republicans.

The governor must “frame the issue as a referendum on whether Sacramento is working,” Pitney said. “If the opposition frames it as referendum on Schwarzenegger ... the initiatives are in trouble.”

McCain was scheduled to accompany Schwarzenegger to Oakland for a second event.

Roger Salazar, a consultant to the California Democratic Party, said McCain would do little to help Schwarzenegger’s cause.

“John McCain was here campaigning for President Bush and (former U.S. Senate candidate) Bill Jones. He didn’t do much for them,” Salazar said. “Californians can make up their own minds.”

The governor called the special election to bring three initiatives to the ballot: whether to cap state spending and give the governor greater authority to make midyear cuts, whether to make teachers work five years instead of two to pass probation, and whether to strip lawmakers of their power to draw political

boundaries. He has since endorsed a fourth proposal that would require public employee unions to get members’ permission before dues could be used for political purposes.

Schwarzenegger and McCain appeared to enjoy sharing the stage Monday, but they haven’t always agreed. The governor and McCain backed rival candidates this month in an Orange County special election for a vacant U.S. House seat. The governor’s hand-picked candidate, state Sen. John Campbell, easily captured the Republican nomination.

McCain was asked about the glut of special interest money pouring into the California election. He didn’t fault Schwarzenegger, saying the governor “played by the rules of the game.”

“Do I like the game?” McCain added. “No.”