Calif. electoral vote poll: 22% favor, 53% oppose

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A survey being released Wednesday by a Democratic polling outfit shows the renewed effort to qualify a ballot initiative to eliminate California's winner-take-all rule for Electoral College votes may have a rough ride ahead.

The poll of 687 likely June 2008 voters, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found just 22 percent favoring the measure to divvy up the state's 55 electoral votes among the top vote getters in each congressional district and 53 percent opposed. The remaining 25 percent were undecided.

Pollster Ben Tulchin said the most surprising finding was among Republicans, who stand to gain from breaking the Democratic grip on California's electoral votes. They opposed the measure, 46 percent to 22 percent.

He attributed the poor showing to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's opposition, as well as the negative press the measure has received - namely, the decision by the initiative's initial backers to pull the plug amid questions about whether out-of-state GOP money was paying for the effort.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/31/BA2GT3DTH.DTL

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Mods: This story has no headline at its source, since it appears in the middle of a larger story on an unrelated topic.

[gratuitous]

1. Republicans continue to offer solutions in search of a problem

Will Arnold grab their hands and assure them that there's no "bat noooze" to be fixed?

[Jackpine Radical]

11. It's npt a solution in search of a problem.

The problem it's meant to eliminate is the scary possibility of a Democratic President in 2008.

[gatorboy]

2. They're trying this again?

I thought they already put a stop to this earlier this year. I guess the right is getting pretty desperate...

[aggiesal]

6. The problem with this scheme is that ...

the RNC, won't allow the same measure to be proposed in
any of the so called "RED" states, like Texas.

If this were proposed in all states, the Dems would never lose
another election because all the urban areas are domninated by
the Dems, while the rural areas are claimed by the Rep.
And, there are now more people living in urban areas than
are living in rural areas.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Let's do it in all the states, GOPers!

[Mountainman]

4. If repubs really are after more fair elections let them offer to get rid of the

electoral college altogether. I really doubt that what they seek is more fair elections. They just can't win on issues alone because of their self centered right wing idealogical points of view. The majority of Americans can see the results of the last 6 or 7 years of right wing control and they do not like what they see. But what have the repub leaders to offer them? Just more of the same. More war, more fear, more rights taken away, more secrecy, more corruption, more jobs lost, more health care availability lost, more education access lost, more American dreams lost, more middle class lost and an ever increasing divide between the haves and have-nots.

So how do they propose to win the upcoming election? By dirty tricks again.

[Doctor_J]

5. Why do Repukes hate our Constitution so much

Is there any part of it they believe in?

[robcon]

7. This movement has no reference to the Federal Constitution.

Each state can allocate the electoral votes as their legislature+executive or state constitution directs. The Federal Constitution lets the states choose.

It's just an attempt by the Repugs to get a share of CA's electoral votes.

[woundedkarma]

10. any part that allows them to gain more power... such as mentions

of "god" or religion in any way.

[Gato Moteado]

8. ok....let's do it in cali...as long as we can do it in FL, OH, and TX too

jesus....the f*cking repukes are always looking at an angle to circumvent democracy, not promote it.

[Zambero]

9. Florida 2000 = Ohio 2004 = California 2008? No Thanks!

I'll hand it to the Republicans. They're creative, taking special care not to repeat the same presidential election stealing tactics back-to-back, lest there be any "supspicion" as to their motives.

[last_texas_dem]

12. That's good news

Personally, I'm all for abolishing the Electoral College, but I think this particular idea is a half-ass reform anyway, and wouldn't actually make the system any more democratic than it is as it curently exists. Plus, it's obvious by those backing it that its support has nothing to do with trying to make the system more democratic anyway and is being pushed for purely partisan purposes.