Written by: William Hekman
A recent survey done by the Yankelovich Center for Social Services at UCSD found that several people from a wide range of demographics want changes to the recall process in California. The survey did find that the reforms people wanted to see were divided along party lines. The survey was conducted during the week before the recall election with 2,812 respondents.
The biggest takeaway from the survey is that the recall election was not representative of the state. Recall voters tend to be older and richer than the rest of the voting population as a whole and the electorate that participated in the 2020 election. Doctoral student Cassidy Reller who worked on the survey, said: “ Our findings suggest that as we discuss reforms to California’s recall process, we shouldn’t be focused on simply making recalls harder to initiate. We should be focused on making them more representative” Reller also said, “Our findings also suggest that if state leaders want to craft a suite of proposals that would have broad appeal to the entirety of our state’s population, they may want to bring voters of every party affiliation, as well as independent voters, into the discussion.”
While reforms were split along party lines, one reform seemed to have bipartisan support. A majority of respondents wanted to limit the grounds for the recall to “concerns about corruption or criminal acts,” with two-thirds of respondents supporting it along with 76% of democrats supporting it and 52% of Republicans supporting it. Voters also supported the possibility of a reform commission but are also open to a legislative process, but there is still a deep partisan divide over election fraud. The survey is very concerning because the Democrats are again trying to take away another democratic process in our state. The recall election is crucial because it allows the citizens to take the initiative and vote out an elected official that is unfit to be in office. The most recent recall occurred not just because of Republican support but also an overwhelming number of Democrats.
Photo from: Eric Vilchis, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG
