New California U.S. Senate Poll Again Suggests Only Two Democrats will be on November Ballot

A Survey USA poll released May 2 for the California U.S. Senate race shows that two Democrats are likely to place first and second on June 7. The two Democrats included in the survey are Kamala Harris 29% and Loretta Sanchez 18%. The three Republicans included are Tom Del Beccaro 10%, Ron Unz 8%, Duf Sundheim 7%. The survey did not mention any of the other 29 candidates on the ballot, but 6% said they would vote for someone else. The undecided rate is 22%.

Early voting begins on Monday, May 9.

After the poll was released, Ted Cruz and Donald Kasich dropped out of the Republican race. This probably means that Republican voters will be less likely to turn out to vote in the primary. By contrast, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are still fighting hard for votes in the remaining presidential primaries, including California, which probably means that the Democratic turnout will be high. This variation in likely turnout makes it even more likely that two Democrats will place first and second in June and therefore will be the only choices in November. The backers of the top-two system even removed write-in space from the November ballot for Congress and partisan state office, so November voters who don’t wish to vote for a Democrat will lose their ability to vote for someone they wish to vote for.


Comments

New California U.S. Senate Poll Again Suggests Only Two Democrats will be on November Ballot — 10 Comments

  1. Stop The Top Two, As it’s a truly Rigged Totalitarian political system.

  2. P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.

    RE: no write-ins — one more subversion of 14th Amdt, Sec. 2 (repeat Sec. 2).

  3. Here is a message that I posted on Facebook on 5-5-16: “To all decent, good, patriotic, Republicans in California: Now that the Republican Party race is pretty much over, you still have a chance to help make a real difference this year. Please consider changing your voter registration to the Democratic Party right away so that you can cast your presidential vote for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on June 7, 2016. The Democratic Party is still a “big tent” political party (like the Republican Party used to be when we baby boomers were coming of age in the 60’s and 70’s). The Democratic Party is the oldest and largest political party in our beautiful, great country. It has room for people of many political persuasions — from democratic socialists, social democrats, and liberals on the left to moderates and pragmatists in the center to fiscal conservatives and social conservatives on the right. What do you have to lose? The Republican Party is well on the way to becoming a truly minor-sized political party. Sure, you could change to the American Independent Party or the Libertarian Party. However, I do think that most Republicans would be more comfortable in the Democratic Party.”

  4. @Phil Sawyer: When you say that the Democratic Party has room for “fiscal conservatives and social conservatives on the right,” who do you have in mind? Which prominent Democratic politicians, especially in California, would best be described as social conservatives, or even fiscal conservatives?

  5. Hello Joshua K.

    Here is part of the description of the Democratic Party that one can see in the “Directory of U.S. Politial Parties” on Ron Gunzburger’s Politics1.com:

    “Democrats run the wide gamut from the near Euro-style democratic-socialist left (Barbara Lee, Raúl Grijalva and the Congressional Progressive Caucus) and traditional liberals (Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden) to the pragmatic “centrist” moderate-to-liberal style (Hillary Clinton, Mark Warner) to the Dem center-right (Harry Reid and the New Democratic Coalition) to the dwindling GOP-style center-conservative right (Joe Manchin, Blue Dog Coalition).”

    In order to answer your question better, I would have to put a lot of thought and research into it. At the moment, I am already taking too much time getting ready for my Saturday things to do list. I do realize that the conservative wing of the Democratic Party does not seem to be as strong as it used to be. However, there certainly must be a lot of conservative people that have registered to vote with our Party.

  6. The Donkey party has been the de facto COMMUNIST Party since 1933.

    Did Civil WAR II start with the DEMAGOGUE / wannabee TYRANT Trump nomination or what ???

    See the ROT of the Roman Republic in 120 BC to 27 BC – lots of tyrants and civil wars.

    About ZERO learned about NOT having tyrant monarchs with ANY legislative powers.

  7. @Phil Sawyer It seems like you are working against your own candidate. Foreign policy/military conservatives are more likely to vote for Clinton if they voted in the Democratic primary. Social conservatives might be a tossup, but Clinton’s Methodist faith has been written about, while Sanders is a secular Jew (not that there’s anything wrong with that — I am one, too). Economic conservatives and pro-Wall Street types are also more likely to vote for Clinton than Sanders (duh, that’s what you people keep saying: Clinton is a tool of the bankers).

    Your efforts are likely a waste of your time, but if they worked at all, getting Republicans to vote for Sanders in the Democratic primary would not be the result — only if they thought Sanders would be the easier Democratic candidate to beat.

    Have you checked with anyone in the Sanders campaign to see if they approve of what you’re doing? Or are you actually a plant with Hillary Clinton’s campaign? (Again, not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

  8. Dear Richard Grayson,

    Here is a message that I wrote on February 5th, 2016 to the State Central Committee, and the Sacramento County Central Committee, of the Peace and Freedom Party of California (which, I believe, demonstrates how serious I am about supporting Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States):

    “Hello,

    After being a truly undecided voter for quite some time now, in this presidential election of 2016, I made a decision this morning to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States of America. Consequently, I changed my party registration from the Peace and Freedom Party to the Democratic Party and I will vote for the Senator in the California Democratic Party Primary Election on June 7th of this year. Therefore, I must resign from my position on the Sacramento County Central Committee, and the State Central Committee, of the Peace and Freedom Party of California.

    This decision is something that I put a lot of study and thought into and I made the choice that is right for me. It is my trust (and expectation) that all the other members of the Peace and Freedom Party are also thinking and doing research regarding this very unique phenomenon — and that each person will make the decision that is the appropriate one for her or him.

    Sincerely and warmly,

    Phil Sawyer

    (Philippe Lawrence Sawyer)”

    With that being said, though, I do not have any problem with any person deciding to join the Democratic Party in order to vote for Secretary Hillary Clinton — if he or she truly believes that Ms. Clinton is the very best candidate. For myself, if Senator Sanders does not win the Democratic Party nomination, I will be back to being an undecided voter. I will have to listen to what all of the candidates have to say and think (and pray) very seriously about my decision. I do think that this presidential election of 2016 is one of the very most important of my lifetime. My plan is to remain in the Democratic Party no matter what happens — and to support and vote for president the person best qualified (regardless of political party). Right now, I am most concerned with wanting to see Senator Sanders obtain the nomination. No, I have not “checked with anyone in the Sanders campaign” about my actions. I am being very honest about what I think and feel and do not believe that there is any action of mine that needs to be checked or regretted. Thank you for your comments and for your question. By the way, in reference to your comment on religion, I happen to be a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

  9. The solution here is pretty simple; the California Republican Party needs to be less racist and more responsive to the people of California. Denounce Proposition 187 and Pete Wilson. Make major outreach drives for nonwhite and moderate candidates, doing whatever you need to do to ensure their ballot access. If the national party questions this, tell them that you’re doing what you have to do to stay viable, as several northeastern Republican parties have done.

    Or Republicans can just keep losing. Their choice.

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