A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) indicates that 56% of likely voters support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, which would gerrymander the state’s congressional map to help Democrats.
The map — unseen by most voters — would replace the one drawn by California’ constitutionally-mandated independent redistricting commission, which voters put into place after passing a referendum in 2008.
The likely effect of the map, created behind closed doors by Democrats, will be to eliminate at least half of the nine seats held by Republicans, who are already underrepresented by half in the existing “independent” map.
Newsom and other Democrats argue that Prop 50 is necessary to “defend democracy,” though effectively it ends the ability of the opposition party to compete fairly for congressional representation within the state.
California’s voters are willing to disenfranchise themselves because Newsom has successfully convinced them that gerrymandering is the best way to fight President Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in the state.
Newsom claims that Prop 50 is a response to a move by Texas to redraw several “majority-minority” districts, which will remove five Democrat-held seats. Democrats hope to capture the U.S. House majority next year.
Asked what the biggest problem is facing the country, California voters — perhaps ironically — cited threats to democracy, though arguably eliminating the opposition is a far more direct threat to democratic elections.
“Californians continue to choose political extremism or threats to democracy (40%) as the most important problem facing the United States today, while far fewer choose economic conditions (19%) and immigration (12%) as the top issue,” the poll reported.
There was a sharp partisan split: self-identified Republicans oppose Proposition 50 by a whopping 89% to 10%, and Democrats support it 84% to 14%. Voters in Republican-held districts oppose it, 56% to 42% — nearly the inverse of the state as a whole.
The poll also found that Newsom had a 55% approval rating — far higher than that measured in other polls. It also suggested that Newsom had succeeded in moving the electorate off its initial opposition to Prop 50.
Newsom’s method in Prop 50, as in the 2021 recall election, has been to frame a state issue or election as a referendum on national politics, casting each vote as way of identifying as Democrats and opposing Trump.
The poll was conducted from October 7 to 14 among 1,707 adults and 943 likely voters, with a sampling error of 4% for the latter.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
The post Poll: Newsom’s Gerrymander Leads, 56% to 43%; CA Voters Say ‘Threats to Democracy’ Biggest Problem appeared first on Breitbart.
