[Sosfbay-discuss] Speaking of Voter Registrations . . .

[Gerry Gras]

Alex,

thank you for the tip.

I liked this article and sent an email to the GPCA CC about it.

Gerry


alexcathy at aol.com wrote:

> Dear Green Friends,
> 
>   Most of the election commentary in the Sunday mainstream medium was 
> the usual "Run-To-The-Center" mush. There was, however, one interesting 
> piece in the San Francisco Chronicle by David Lesher, California 
> program director for New America Foundation, a non-partisan public 
> policy institute. Among several gems in this article was Lesher's 
> observation that, while we Greens may be losing voter registrations, 
> Republicans and Democrats are losing 'em even faster! According to 
> Lesher, Democratic Party registration is at its lowest point in 75 
> years. Furthermore, for voters under age 23, a whopping 40 percent are 
> registering outside of the two major parties. By the way, this squares 
> with my experience from the voter registration my wife and I did last 
> year as part of a non-partisan registration drive for 9to5 the National 
> Organization of Working Women. Cathy and I noticed huge numbers of 
> independent and also Green Party registrations for young voters. We 
> thought then that this was just Bay Area eccentricity, but evidently, 
> the pattern holds statewide.
> 
>   You can find the whole article posted at www.sfgate.com, but here are 
> some highlights:
> 
> 
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>   Published by the San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfgate.com, Sunday, 
> November 13, 2005.
>  WHERE STATE'S ANGRY VOTERS WILL TURN NEXT
>  by David Lesher
> 
>   Now what? The special election was a referendum on Gov. Arnold 
> Schwarzenegger and all eyes are focused on how he responds to a 
> complete rejection by voters. But an even more important question is, 
> what will voters do next?
> 
>   They started this venture into uncharted territory with the 
> unprecedented recall of an incumbent governor and the election of a 
> political neophyte who promised to sweep out the status quo. Now, the 
> rejection of the special election suggests the recall was a failed 
> solution.
> 
>   Voters are still as angry as they were two years ago. Roughly 3 out of 
> 5 agree today with all of the following statements: California is on 
> the "wrong track," bad times are ahead, there is "a lot" of waste in 
> state government, Schwarzenegger and the Legislature are failing at 
> their jobs, the government can rarely be trusted, political 
> contributions have too much influence and "major change" is needed in 
> the state budget.
> 
>  . . .
> 
>   For example, a poll last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy 
> Institute of California found a dramatic jump in support for public 
> financing of elections. Last year, voters rejected the idea by more 
> than 22 points. But last month, the issue was dead even.
> 
>  . . .
> 
>   Democratic registration today is at 42 percent, its lowest point in 75 
> years. There are actually about 400,000 fewer Democrats in California 
> today than there were in 1994, even though the state has added more 
> than 1 million registered voters since then. Republican registration is 
> also down from nearly 40 percent in 1990 to less than 35 percent today.
> 
>   Registration outside of the two major parties has more than doubled 
> since 1990 to nearly 23 percent today. San Francisco, the state's 
> second-most Democratic county, also has the highest independent 
> registration in California at 28 percent.
> 
>   The response by adult voters is also just a glimpse of the trend since 
> many are unhappy but haven't made the effort to change their party 
> registration. The bleak future of the two major parties is most clear 
> in the response from young voters. Among those under age 23, more than 
> 40 percent are registering outside of the two major parties.
> 
>   So is California ready for a third party? Last year, voters split 
> nearly 50-50 when the Public Policy Institute asked whether Republicans 
> and Democrats are doing "such a poor job that a third major party is 
> needed." But it may not stay that way very long since independent 
> voters endorsed the statement by nearly 2 to 1.
> 
> 
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