CA recall election

CA Recall

Analysis of the Results of the California Recall Election

Although the general issues pertaining to the current California crisis, such as the hated car tax and the fear of yet another electricity crisis, no doubt affected all voters across the state, in general, Caucasians were more apt to vote to recall Governor Davis than were Black and Latino voters. This may be attributed to the fact that these, and other hot-button issues of recent date, negatively impacted whites in such a fashion that they were likely to vote for the recall. This does not mean that all Californians were not affected, but that Whites and affluent individuals in general were more likely to experience these negative issues as recent events.

Because affluent suburban whites were more apt to see such events as negatively impacting their lifestyle quite recently, these Caucasians were more apt to blame Governor Davis as the source of such detrimental policies as the car tax. In contrast, African-Americans were likely not to attribute a negative downturn in their lifestyle to a short-term immediate political cause as who sat in the governor's seat, but to long-term societal problems stretching far beyond Davis' term in office.

This discrepancy between the ethnicities of voters voting for and against the recall also explains why Caucasians and Asians, individuals of higher socioeconomic and social status by and large, as well as individuals with a perception that 'the political system basically works, voted against Davis. Blacks and Latinos, though, it should be noted, largely preferred Cruz Bustamante, when they voted for the recall. While Crux Bustamante called for a new program of social justice in the state, the current governor of the state, as opposed to the former governor Davis, was more likely to target single hot-button issues and personality as the sources of the state's problems, with the media flair he has often been noted for in his films. Arnold's political spin doctors created a perception that things could be easily fixed by a change of political leadership in a basically functional system, something that Caucasians and Asians were likely to agree with, but Latinos and African-Americans were not.

In terms of party affiliation, specifically identified Republicans were likely to vote to recall Governor Davis simply to shore up their party's standing in the nation as a whole and cast support for an increasingly beleaguered Republican president, widely criticized for his handling of Iraq. In contrast, even though Davis is a Democrat, many Democrats also voted to recall him, not because they agreed with the recall in principle, but because they feared allowing such a politically weakened Democrat to symbolize the party in such a powerful state as California. Thus, most Democrats voted for Cruz Bustamante, most Republicans voted for Cruz Bustamante, and Governor Davis' support fizzled out all over the state in almost all districts with voters of strong party allegiances.