The attitudes of voters. Illustration by Niroworld, via Shutterstock.Friday night, my wife Jodi got home after a long week. Trying to decide what we should do, she flipped through some channels, looking at the networks, a couple sports channels, a few news channels, HBO and Showtime, and then finally announced “I don’t think there’s anything good on TV, let’s go see a movie.”
ANALYSIS: California is in the midst of major generational and cultural changes. Nationally, we see the increased influence of millennials on our culture and waning influence of the Greatest Generation and Silent Generation. But while California’s newer voters are heavily dominated by millennials, independents and Latinos, elections are still being decided by white, partisan voters.
Voters cast ballots at the November 2014 general election in Oak View, Calif. (Photo: Joseph Sohm) We Californians justifiably become excited about our many remarkable achievements: we make terrific movies; Silicon Valley leads the planet in technological innovation; our traffic jams are world class. But when it comes to voting, we give a statewide shrug. A mere 42.2 percent of registered voters — registered voters — bothered to cast ballots in the November 2014 general election. Los Angeles County bottomed out statewide with a turnout of 31 percent. It gets even worse: The June 2014 turnout was 25.2 percent.
The race for state schools superintendent is in a dead heat, but more than four out of every 10 of voters remain undecided about who to support just days before Tuesday’s election, the latest Field Poll reported. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown leads Republican challenger Neel Kashkari by 21 points. Democrats lead in the other races for statewide offices.
State Sen. Rod Wright, an Inglewood Democrat who once headed the powerful Governmental Organization Committee, was sentenced Friday to three months in jail and banned for life from holding public office for lying to the public and election officials about his true place of residence.
The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Wikimedia)Election 2014 An early tally shows that fewer than one in five of California’s registered voters cast ballots in this week’s primary, continuing a downward trend that has bedeviled the state’s elections. A county-by-county report from the secretary of state’s office noted that 3.24 million people voted out of the 17.72 million registered, or about 18.3 percent. When compared with the total number of eligible voters in California, those who actually cast ballots dwindled to 13.34 percent.
Millerton Lake in Fresno County formed by the Friant Dam. Photo: K.J. KolbNearly all California voters (88%) believe the state is undergoing a serious water shortage. However, there is no clear consensus about whether the situation is due more to a lack of water storage and supply facilities in the state, or users not using existing supplies efficiently enough. Statewide, 27% cite the former, 37% the latter and another 24% say both are equally responsible.
Voter approval of the job that Democrat Jerry Brown is doing as Governor has reached a new high. At present, 59% of registered voters approve of his performance in office, nearly twice the proportion (32%) who disapprove. Brown also holds a huge preference lead when likely voters in the June open primary election are asked whom they would support if the election were being held today.
Fickle Californians are voting with their feet, walking away from the political parties and increasingly declining to state any party preference at all.
The secretary of state reported Monday that Democrats and Republicans both lost registrants, with Republicans dipping to 28.9 percent, while Democratic registration stood at 43.9 percent, fully 15 points above the