In the midst of this California blue wave debacle, I found some remarkably GOOD news. Mind you, I’m not a “good news” sort of guy.
Let me be clear: California is doomed. I don’t expect that to change for decades, if ever.
I write regularly about which states are best for fiscally sane, limited government, liberty loving Californians to flee to. Almost all are better than California, though some are MUCH better than others.
If I can talk the rest of my family into departing for another state (Tennessee is my favorite), we’ll be out of here. So far, I’m having no luck.
But I digress.
Democrats win the overwhelming majority of the partisan races in the state. And by a wide margin. That’s NOT the good news.
The good news is the voters’ response to the state propositions. See the chart below.
While the final vote totals will change, the results are generally favorable to REPUBLICAN positions. Even where the GOP position on a prop lost, it was a close contest. This is doubtless a surprise to most of our CA MSM and politicians.
It gets more interesting when one looks at the California voter registration percentages by political party (July 2020):
Democratic — 46.3%
Republican — 24.0%
No Party Preference — 24.0%
Other — 5.7%
https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/123day-gen-2020/historical-reg-stats.pdf
Assuming that most Democrats and Republicans followed their respective party’s recommendations, Democrats should have won by perhaps a 2-1 margin on these props. But that assumes that the “no party preference” registrants voted roughly the same way.
They did not. Clearly the independent and third party voters voted to support the GOP positions on almost all of these props. And by a large majority.
Not that these independent voters THOUGHT of the props as party-related. But when it comes to political policy, it turns out that — on the ballot measures — at least 70% of the “no preference” CA folks support GOP positions.
Look at Prop 14 — billions of bonds for stem cell research. A widely liked cause, no organized opposition, no (direct) tax increase — yet it’s passing by only a 51%-49% margin.
Prop 15 — the “soak the rich businesses” property tax measure — was a much more contested issue, with both sides spending a lot. Everyone supposedly hates big business in CA, yet it’s currently losing by a 52%-48% margin. WARNING: It may still pass when all the votes are counted by our Democrat registrars of voters.
Consider Prop 16, the racist “affirmative action” initiative that was explicitly anti-white and particularly anti-Asian. In this supposedly “woke” state, it’s still getting clobbered by a 56%-44% margin.
Then there’s Prop 21, the massive increase in rent controls. This is raw meat for progressives. We have the highest percentage of renters of any state. You’d expect it to pass easily. Instead, it’s losing by a stunning 60%-40% margin.
If I were running the GOP — I’d consider doing a mailer to independent voters — going into more detail about how the GOP, and NOT the Democratic Party — best represents their political preferences. I’d use these statewide votes on the props as a benchmark.
https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures
CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE
State Ballot Measures – Statewide Results
Results will be certified by December 11, 2020.
To view the total unprocessed ballots, visit the
Unprocessed Ballots Report (updates daily after 5:00 p.m.)
Election results will change throughout the canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots (including conditional voter registration provisional ballots), and other ballots are tallied.
| Proposition Title | Yes Votes |
% | No Votes |
% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 14 | Bonds to Continue Stem Cell Research | 6,216,139 | 51.0% | 5,964,961 | 49.0% |
| No | 15 | Property Tax to Fund Schools, Government Services | 5,979,003 | 48.3% | 6,405,666 | 51.7% |
| No | 16 | Affirmative Action in Government Decisions | 5,366,655 | 43.9% | 6,854,393 | 56.1% |
| Yes | 17 | Restores Right to Vote After Prison Term | 7,289,248 | 59.0% | 5,059,072 | 41.0% |
| No | 18 | 17-year-old Primary Voting Rights | 5,549,073 | 44.8% | 6,825,260 | 55.2% |
| Yes | 19 | Changes Certain Property Tax Rules | 6,233,543 | 51.4% | 5,896,647 | 48.6% |
| No | 20 | Parole Restrictions for Certain Offenses | 4,556,754 | 37.7% | 7,529,008 | 62.3% |
| No | 21 | Expands Governments’ Authority to Rent Control | 4,922,437 | 40.3% | 7,300,324 | 59.7% |
| Yes | 22 | App-Based Drivers and Employee Benefits | 7,178,076 | 58.4% | 5,116,019 | 41.6% |
| No | 23 | State Requirements for Kidney Dialysis Clinics | 4,400,274 | 36.0% | 7,812,042 | 64.0% |
| Yes | 24 | Amends Consumer Privacy Laws | 6,778,632 | 56.0% | 5,317,765 | 44.0% |
| No | 25 | Eliminates Money Bail System | 5,349,338 | 44.4% | 6,688,378 | 55.6% |