press release Same-Sex Marriage Ban Losing – Measures to Restrict Abortion for Minors, Reform Redistricting Fail to Reach 50 Percent Oct 22, 2008
blog post Three Lessons About California’s Election Reforms By Eric McGhee, Daniel Krimm Nov 5, 2014 California got its second taste of two important reforms yesterday: legislative and congressional districts drawn by an independent redistricting commission and a "top-two” primary system. How did they do this time around?
blog post Rebooting California’s Congressional Delegation By Eric McGhee Mar 11, 2014 With this year’s retirements, more than a third of the California congressional delegation will have turned over by the time the dust settles this fall.
Fact Sheet California’s New Electoral Reforms: The Fall Election By Eric McGhee, Daniel Krimm Nov 8, 2012
Report The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California By Claudine Gay Jun 1, 2001 Benefiting in part from the creation of majority-minority districts—those in which minority groups constitute a majority of the voting population—California’s Latino and black congressional representatives have emerged as visible political actors in an institution traditionally dominated by whites. Advocates argue that majority-minority districts are beneficial because they encourage more Latinos and African-Americans to participate in the political process. Although this claim has met with considerable skepticism, so far neither the advocates nor the skeptics have offered firm evidence for or against the link between majority-minority redistricting and increased political participation. Claudine Gay’s The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California provides this evidence by investigating Latino, African-American, and white turnout rates in California’s 13 majority-minority districts.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and the Future By Mark Baldassare Oct 25, 2006 Some findings in the current survey, two weeks before the Nov. 7 election: Among likely voters, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lead over his Democratic challenger, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, increased one percentage point to 18 points, 48% to 30%, with 13% undecided. Schwarzenegger continues to pull much greater support from Republicans (86%) than Angelides does from Democrats (57%). Likely voters continue to name immigration (21%) and education (19%) as the issues they most want the candidates for governor to discuss, followed by the state budget and taxes (10%), and jobs and the economy (7%). But most voters (60%), and at least half of Democrats (67%), Republicans (50%), and independents (60%), say they are dissatisfied with the attention that the gubernatorial candidates are giving to the issues. Overall, Californians show more support for the general concept of using state bonds to pay for infrastructure than they do for any of the specific measures on the November ballot: 61 percent of likely voters think it is a good idea for the state government to pay for infrastructure improvements by issuing bonds, but 58 percent of likely voters say the $43 billion price tag for the five current bond measures is too much. A majority of likely voters (59%) favors redistricting reform that would require an independent commission of citizens, not the governor and legislature, to adopt a new redistricting plan after each Census. This is the 72nd PPIC Statewide Survey and the third in a four-part, pre- and post-election series, made possible with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.
