Nearly 1 in 5 Californians would never vote for Republican, Times/USC poll finds

Almost one in five California voters said they would never cast a ballot for a Republican. Among Latinos, that rose to almost one in three, according to a new Los Angeles Times-USC poll.

Only 5% of California voters were as emphatically anti-Democrat, according to the survey.

"I don't know how any Republican thinks they can win in California after looking at this," said GOP pollster Linda DiVall, who with Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg directed the survey for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.

California voters surveyed in the poll repudiated the GOP stance on illegal immigration by endorsing a host of positions intended to make it easier for the undocumented to gain legal status. Their support for same-sex marriage outnumbered that opposing any legal recognition by more than 3 to 1. Californians also endorsed an assertive role for government in protecting minority citizens, regulating corporations and helping the poor and needy, and rejected arguments that an activist role for government had harmed the fiber of American society.

The negative overlay both explained and helped determine the fates of the party's candidates in November. As a GOP tide swept the nation, Republicans here lost all statewide offices, with one contest, for attorney general, still unresolved but leaning toward the Democrat. Republicans here also failed to gain any congressional seats and lost a legislative seat.

The poll surveyed a random sample of 1,689 registered California voters, interviewed by telephone from Nov. 3 to 14 by the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, the Republican firm American Viewpoint and Latino Decisions, which surveyed Latino voters. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is 2.4 percentage points in either direction, with larger margins for subgroups.

Read the full report on the Los Angeles Times/USC poll by Times Political Editor Cathleen Decker here.

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Comments

[diaper rash]

I"ve been a member of the California Republican Party since I first registered to vote a few decades ago.
So I always vote for a Republican in the primary election.
We really have had some terrific Republican candidates running to become our Party's nominee for U.S. Senate or CA Governor.
Problem is my horse always comes in third or worse.
We end up with the likes of William Simon or Meg Whitman in the general election. Crap!

[Mufon]

Hey LA Times, we get it, GOP bad, Democrats perfect! Now let's get on with California's business, that is opening borders, eradicating the middle class, keeping the poor enslaved by government handouts, taxing and spending without accountability, and preventing the evil police from being discourteous to criminals. We're on the road to utopia.

Of course, if the stats were reversed, the same thing would be going on.

[judy]

Only voting for Dems? California is in trouble? Duh - it doesn't take a genius to think one may need to vote differently.

[Just Me]

I think the LA Times and USC contact the same people everytime. There polls don't seem to reflect the actual outcome. It seems that the reporting is trying to influence it's readers.

[trust no one]

Survey results sound as though they reflect accurately the Republicans face in CA. Just goes to show that even with an 8% approval rating, Nancy Pelosi will likely get re-elected, even though she literally is the face of failure.

It's bad for us all when one party runs the table. Yes, even the Democrats because without the threat of losing, abuse of power is a bit too tempting as we've seen (cough cough, Charlie Rangle, cough).

[syscom3]

So 80% would vote for the GOP?

And how does that 20% compare to other states?

[Steve Rodriguez]

I am the 1 in 5, I always vore Republican! I will give you some reasons why I vote Republican, Obama, Pelosi, Reed, Brown,m Boxer and Al Gore! Need I say more?

[312capri]

Sure glad I moved away many years ago! Now live in NM and waiting for my water front property after your big earthquake