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Election Reveals Geographical Divide Among California Voters
Aired October 15, 2003 - 15:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's two-day trip to California will include a one-on-one meeting with California's new governor-elect. Tomorrow evening, the president and Arnold Schwarzenegger will have their first meeting since the recall election. The Schwarzenegger victory has energized California Republicans.
Our Charles Feldman reports, the election has also revealed a geographical divide among California voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GONE WITH THE WIND")
CLARK GABLE, ACTOR: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): OK, we'll admit, the north-south split in California is not nearly as dramatic as the "Gone With the Wind" version. But last week's recall election has made it all too obvious that Californians may be connected by highways, but not by politics.
MICHAEL ALVAREZ, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: There's a bloc in the north along the coast that appears willing to vote for Democratic candidates, no matter whether they're being recalled or not. But the block in the south, the coastal south, seems to be either more strongly Republican or more of a swing area than I think conventional wisdom has painted it.
FELDMAN: What this Caltech political science professor is talking about is clearly seen on maps of how people voted last week in the nation's most populous state. All the red areas, northern and coastal, with the notable exception of L.A. County, voted against the recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis, while the yellow areas, the inland and southern portions of the state, voted to send Davis to the unemployment lines.
And look at this. Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to win most of the state -- that's the yellow here -- with Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante only beating him in a relatively small portion of the coastal north. And if there's a difference between north and south, there's a really big difference between San Francisco and the rest of California. More people, 80 percent, voted against the recall in San Francisco than anywhere else. And more people, 63 percent in San Francisco, voted for Bustamante than anywhere else in the Golden State. This newspaper columnist compares San Francisco to a little island.
PHIL MATIER, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": The bottom line is, the folks in this town are Democrat to the core. They saw this as a Republican takeover bid.
FELDMAN: Community activist Antonio Diaz agrees, and adds:
ANTONIO DIAZ, PEOPLE ORGANIZING TO DEMAND ECONOMIC RIGHTS: There's a rich culture of organizing and activism and healthy political debate in the Bay area. There's, I think, a lot of concern about what the Republican Party is doing in the country. And I think that speaks to how voters in San Francisco and the Bay area as a whole, actually, wound up voting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FELDMAN: Now, the political and social differences between north and south in this state are certainly not new. But the recall election and the supercharged candidacy of superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger have made these fault lines much more apparent.
So, Judy, perhaps instead of "Gone With the Wind," I should have started off with scenes from, say, the movie "Earthquake" -- Judy.
(LAUGHTER)
WOODRUFF: Well, let's hope there's not another one soon. This was a political earthquake, but we don't want the real thing.
All right, Charles, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Voters>
Aired October 15, 2003 - 15:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's two-day trip to California will include a one-on-one meeting with California's new governor-elect. Tomorrow evening, the president and Arnold Schwarzenegger will have their first meeting since the recall election. The Schwarzenegger victory has energized California Republicans.
Our Charles Feldman reports, the election has also revealed a geographical divide among California voters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GONE WITH THE WIND")
CLARK GABLE, ACTOR: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): OK, we'll admit, the north-south split in California is not nearly as dramatic as the "Gone With the Wind" version. But last week's recall election has made it all too obvious that Californians may be connected by highways, but not by politics.
MICHAEL ALVAREZ, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: There's a bloc in the north along the coast that appears willing to vote for Democratic candidates, no matter whether they're being recalled or not. But the block in the south, the coastal south, seems to be either more strongly Republican or more of a swing area than I think conventional wisdom has painted it.
FELDMAN: What this Caltech political science professor is talking about is clearly seen on maps of how people voted last week in the nation's most populous state. All the red areas, northern and coastal, with the notable exception of L.A. County, voted against the recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis, while the yellow areas, the inland and southern portions of the state, voted to send Davis to the unemployment lines.
And look at this. Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to win most of the state -- that's the yellow here -- with Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante only beating him in a relatively small portion of the coastal north. And if there's a difference between north and south, there's a really big difference between San Francisco and the rest of California. More people, 80 percent, voted against the recall in San Francisco than anywhere else. And more people, 63 percent in San Francisco, voted for Bustamante than anywhere else in the Golden State. This newspaper columnist compares San Francisco to a little island.
PHIL MATIER, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": The bottom line is, the folks in this town are Democrat to the core. They saw this as a Republican takeover bid.
FELDMAN: Community activist Antonio Diaz agrees, and adds:
ANTONIO DIAZ, PEOPLE ORGANIZING TO DEMAND ECONOMIC RIGHTS: There's a rich culture of organizing and activism and healthy political debate in the Bay area. There's, I think, a lot of concern about what the Republican Party is doing in the country. And I think that speaks to how voters in San Francisco and the Bay area as a whole, actually, wound up voting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FELDMAN: Now, the political and social differences between north and south in this state are certainly not new. But the recall election and the supercharged candidacy of superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger have made these fault lines much more apparent.
So, Judy, perhaps instead of "Gone With the Wind," I should have started off with scenes from, say, the movie "Earthquake" -- Judy.
(LAUGHTER)
WOODRUFF: Well, let's hope there's not another one soon. This was a political earthquake, but we don't want the real thing.
All right, Charles, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Voters>
