I believe democracy is a verb and I relish all of the polls, data, and strategies emerging as we head towards Election Day tomorrow.
Mark diCamillo, from the Field Poll, pre-released polls last Friday here at The San Francisco Foundation, showing the emergence of Californians of color as providing the critical margin to the most contested propositions before us this Tuesday.
New America Media, a grantee in our public policy cohort, commissioned Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll to poll in six different languages to better understand the ethnic vote in California. Those languages included English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
In contrast, with White, non-hispanic voters, Latino, Asian American and African Americans will likely provide the margins needed to shift the outcomes on ballot Propositions 30, 32, 34 and 38. This indicates the emerging influence of Latino, Asian American and African Americans on California Elections.
The most recent poll, conducted at the end of October, describes an emerging trend among children of first generation immigrants, voting in very different ways from their parents. Not surprisingly, the newer generation of young voters, in general, support propositions to support raising new revenues for education, ending the death penalty in favor of a life sentence, and support the re-election of President Obama. Latino, Asian American and African American Californians appear to have a different view of the role of government and candidates that skews positively to progressive ballot measures and candidates, more than their White, non-hispanic, Californian counter parts.
The San Francisco Foundation, through it’s public policy and civic engagement programs, support organizations like New America Media and state based organizations to maximize voter participation of low income communities, communities of color and non-English speaking voters. We also support voter education and voter mobilization in the Bay Area.
The San Francisco Foundation is non-partisan and opposes San Francisco’s Proposition F.
Watch out for some more posts on voter engagement after Tuesday’s election.