- - - - - - e THE INDEPENDENT AND NON-PARTISAN STATEWIDE SURVEY OF PUBLIC OPINION ESTABLISHED IN 947 BY MERVIN D. FIELD. 234 Front Street San Francisco 94 (45) 392-5763 COPYRIGHT 978 BY THE FIELD INSTITUTE. Release POLL DATA HIGHLIGHTS SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REGISTERED DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. By Mervin D. Field FOR PUBLICATION BY SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. For Release: FRIDAY, October 27, 978 IMPORTANT: Contract for ths servce S subject to revocation if publication or broadcast takes place before release date or if contents of report are divulged to persons outside of subscriber staff rior to release date. For the past half century more than nine out of ten California voters have consistently chosen to be publicly identified as either a Democrat or a Republican in the political process. While the proportions of registrants have fluctuated in the two parties, have always outnumbered by wide margins since the mid-930's. Today, about 0.2 million Californians are registered to vote in the November 7th Election. Of these, about 5.8 million are registered as, 3.5 million are registered and the remaining 900,000 are registered with another party or "Decline to State" party category. Are there significant differences between voters who register as and those who register as? Is it true that the Democratic party is made up predominantly of liberals in political ideology while see themselves mainly as conservatives? Are primarily the rich, the better educated? Does the Democratic party draw more ethnic and religious minorities such as Blacks, Hispanics, Catholics, and Jews? Which party is attracting the young in greater numbers? In an attempt to answer these questions, The California Poll recently examined the Characteristics of more than 4,000 California registered voters interviewed in a series of studies. Its results show that followers of the two major parties do differ in significant ways. Political Ideology One of the biggest differences between and is their self-professed political ideology leanings. distribute themselves fairly evenly on the ideological spectrum while are heavily weighted to the conservative side. For example, 38% of the classify themselves as conservatives, either "strongly" or - continued The California Pail has operated continuously since 947 as an independent, non partisan media sponsored public opinion news service. The Pail is owned by Field Research Corporation and since 976 has been operated by The Field Institute, a non-profit, non partisan research group engaged in conducting studies of public opinion on issues of social significance. The Field Institute is dedicated to encouraging the widest possible dissemination of social survey findings to the public and for the public benefit. The Institute receives its support from academic, governmental, media, and private sources.
------- - -- e -e The California Poll -3 - - _. Education, continued Less than High School 6% 7% Completed High School 25 2-2 years college 27 28 3-4 years college 5 20 5 or more years college 7 24 Labor Union Status While labor unions have had a long-standing identification with the Democratic party, a significant proportion of (5%) have labor union ties. Among about one in four (27%) are members of a labor union or have somebody in the family who belongs to a labor union. Respondent is union Other family member Nobody in family is member is 7% 0 73 9% 6 85 Sex Women outnumber men in the adult population 8 years and over and on the voter registration rolls. The proportions of men and women who register either as or does not vary significantly. Male 46% 49% Female 54 5 are distributed somewhat more heavily in the younger age adults than are. One in four (26%) are aged 8-29 whereas just 7% of the are in this age group. Conversely, have significantly larger percentages of the elderly within their ranks. 8-24 years of age 4% 0% 25-29 2 7 30-39 9 8 40-49 5 8 50-59 7 9 60 or older 23 28 - continued
The California Poll -2 "moderately". Another 4% of the say they are "liberal", either "strongly" or "moderately". However, two out of three (67%) say they are either "strongly" or "moderately" conservative, while just 2% think of themselves as politically liberal. Strongly Conservative Moderately Conservative Middle-of-the-road 7% 3 2 Moderately Liberal 32 0 Strongly Liberal 9 2 9% 48 2 Religion Another significant difference between California and is in religion. Where almost two out of three (66%) are Protestant, just 43% of the are of this faith. A higher percentage of are Roman Catholics than are -- 29% to 7%. Where 7% of the are Jewish just % of the are Jews. Among 5% say they have no religious preference while one in ten (9%) are in this group. Protestant 43% 66% Roman Catholic 29 7 Jewish 7 Other 6 7 No Religious Preference 5 9 Ethnicity There are significant ethnic differences between the two parties. Whereas more than nine out of ten (93%) are White, just 76% of the are. Blacks represent 0% of the but among they represent just %. About one in ten (%) are Hispanic while just 4% of the are. White 76% 93% Hispanic 4 Black 0 Asian 2 Other Education A larger proportion of than are on the lower rungs of the formal education ladder. A significantly greater proportion of than have not attended college (4% to 28%). - continued -
-, - - - - - - - e - - - - - The California Poll -4 Employment Status A factor related to age differences is that proportionately more (24%) are in households where there is someone retired and where there is no chief wage earner. Just 9% of the are in this category. Also, more are self-employed while more are self-employed. Employment Status of Chief Earner Employed by Someone Else Self-Employed Unemployed No Chief Wage Earner, Retired 66% 3 2 9 57% 8 24 Family Income In respect to income are proportionately more up-scale than are. Where just 20% of have an income of less than $0,000 a year, 28% of the are in this income class. More than one-half (53%) of all have annual family incomes of $20,000 or more while just about 38% of are in this income level. Under $7,000 7% % $7,000 - $9,999 9 $0,000 - $4,999 8 2 $5,000 - $9,999 6 5 $20,000 - $29,999 22 22 $30,000 or more 6 3. Marital Status Proportionately more (69%) are married than are (58%), and whereas 7% of the have never been married, 0% of the are in this category. Home Ownership Married 58% 69% Separated/Divorced 4 9 Widowed 2 Never Married 7 0 Less proportions of are homeowners than are. Where not quite two out of three (63%) own their own home, three-fourths of the (77%) are home owners. Own Home 63% 77% Rent Home 37 23, -30 ~\
THE INDEPENDENT AND NON-PARTISAN STATEWIDE SURVEY OF PUBLIC OPiNION ESTABLiSHED IN 947 BY MERVIN D. FIELD. 234 Front Street San Francisco 94 (45392-5763 DATES AND METHOD OF INTERVIEWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SURVEY The data from four recent California Poll surveys were combined to yield a composite view of registered and across the state. The dates and interviewing method used for each survey were: () May - May 8, 978 Telephone (2) May 29 - May 3, 978 Telephone (3) August 2 - August 26, 978 Personal, face-to-face. (4) September 20 - September 29, 978 - Personal, face-to-face. POPULATION COVERED Representative cross-section of California adult public. SIZE OF SAMPLE (Composite) Total Registered Voters 4072 2207 57 Other party/decline to state 348,' The California Poll has operated continuously since 947 as an independent. non-partisan media sponsored public opinion news service. The Poll ;s owned by Field Research Corporation and since 976 has been operated by The Field Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan research group engaged in conducting studies of public opinion on issues of social significance. The Field Institute is dedicated to encouraging the widest possible dissemination of social survey findings to the public and for the public benefit. The Institute receives its support from academic, governmental, media, and private sources..,,,,
SURVEY METHOD All personal and telephone interviews were made with respondents in their homes. Sampled homes were drawn in accordance with a probability sample design that gives all areas of the state and all neighborhoods a properly proportionate chance to be included. Specific cluster locations were determined by random selection of key addresses from current telephone directories. Non-telephone homes in the face-to-face interview samples were drawn into the sample by a special method of cluster formation. Up to four calls are made to each designated household at different times to reach one adult in each household. Adult respondent is selected for interview using an objective, self-weighted procedure to provide a balance of age and sex. SAMPLING RELIABILITY The sampling reliability of data from this sample is shown below. These figures represent an estimate of average sampling tolerance at the 95% confidence level; that is, the chances are about 9 out of 20 that if the whole population of the state had been surveyed with the same questionnaire, the results of the complete census would not be found to deviate from the obtained survey findings by more than plus or minus the amount shown below. Sample Size Plus/minus sampling tolerance (in percentage points) 2500 2.2 2000 2.4 500 2.8 000 3.5 800 3.9 600 4.5 400 5.5 200 7.7 POLL OPERATION AND SPONSORSHIP The California Poll has operated continuously since 947 as an independent non-partisan media sponsored public opinion news service. The Poll is owned by Field Research Corporation and since 976 has been operated by The Field Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan research group engaged in conducting studies of public opinion on issues of social significance. The Institute receives its financial support from academic, governmental, media and private sources.