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 Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: California Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban |
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Many in California and most folks out of the Golden State have this belief that California is
split on a North/South basis, which isn't reality, it's much more a coastal versus inland
Political split that is until you get SOUTH of LA County often referred "the Orange Curtain",
Liberal north of that county line, making most of Orange County and San Diego, conservative. The
Central Valley, with Fresno and Bakersfield conservative, along with most of the Palm Springs
area conservative. The Coast Liberal. Far Northern California conservative, and Tahoe liberal.
It's not a North/South divide!
Bill aka Chad James
http://www.noonprop8.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/MNDF13L3P1.DTL
Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban
John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More...
(10-22) 15:47 PDT Stockton - --
Nearly 100 people gathered in a deserted parking lot under a gray Central Valley sky, ready to
knock on doors and tell perfect strangers why they should vote to ban same-sex marriage in
California.
"Just be friendly and say what you know is important," Bill Doughty, a volunteer organizer for
the Yes on 8 campaign, told the crowd.
Stockton is only 90 miles east of San Francisco, but the Central Valley is worlds apart from
coastal California, and the tight ballot battle over same-sex marriage highlights the
distinction.
"There's an increasing divide between the coastal view of the political world and the Central
Valley's view, and you can see that in Proposition 8," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field
Poll. "But the same-sex marriage question splits voters in a lot of ways, by party, by religion,
by age, by region."
In a Field Poll in June that showed Prop. 8 losing statewide, only 37 percent of likely voters in
California's voter-rich coastal counties were backing the same-sex marriage ban, compared with 54
percent in the less-populous inland section of the state. In the Bay Area, the center of the
nation's gay rights movement, support for the measure skidded to 26 percent.
Those numbers might have changed slightly since the summer. Some recent polls showed the race
tightening after a flood of TV ads by proponents of the measure.
While opponents of the initiative are holding events in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles
and Guerneville, it's no coincidence that a weeklong bus trip by Prop. 8 supporters is making
stops in Chico, Bakersfield, Indio (Riverside County) and Modesto.
'Yes' bus visits Oakland
At the bus tour's lone Bay Area stop, in East Oakland on Tuesday, about 100 sign-waving
supporters heard from campaign officials and local black ministers speaking in front of a bus
decorated with ads running the length of the vehicle urging people to "Say 'I Do' to Traditional
Marriage."
"This is not about taking away rights from anyone," said Frank Schubert, campaign consultant for
the Yes on 8 campaign. "It's about standing up for rights."
Opponents of the measure are putting out a different message.
Stephanie Stolte of Turlock (Stanislaus County), an organizer for a Unitarian Universalist group
that is part of the "No on 8" coalition, is asking clergy from Lodi to Fresno to sign on to the
effort to block the same-sex marriage ban, which she describes as "a blatant attempt to rob
(people) of their fundamental rights and freedoms."
She also has put together a small Modesto phone bank that calls undecided voters two days a week,
urging them to oppose Prop. 8. Stolte and other phone bank operators recognize the demographic
differences that are driving the debate.
Martina Virrey, a Stockton organizer with the "No on Prop. 8" effort, has five to 10 people
making calls one night a week. Her callers are targeting what she says are the "young, occasional
voters" who might show up on election day to vote for Democrat Barack Obama for president but who
also are likely to vote against Prop. 8.
"I think age has a lot to do with how people will vote on Prop. 8," she said. "Many young voters
in our area feel they need more information, but once we explain Prop. 8 to them, they tell us,
'Of course I'm voting no on that.' "
Families, friends disagree
That's not the way Myrna Elias, a 29-year-old student from Stockton, sees it.
"A lot of friends had a hard time coming out to their parents and others, and I'm sympathetic to
what they went through," she said. "But I can still love those persons and still be for Prop. 8."
Religion plays a major role in the Central Valley's campaign against same-sex marriage, which
isn't surprising when much of the financial and volunteer support for Prop. 8 has come from
churches across the state. Nearly two-thirds of likely voters who identify themselves as
evangelical Christians back the same-sex marriage ban, the Field Poll showed.
"Proposition 8 doesn't promote or support hate," said Rebecca Whitman, a Stockton mother of five.
"We're putting out the word of God."
Ken Boyd, a volunteer organizer for the Yes on 8 campaign from Kerman (Fresno County), said he
had more than 3,500 volunteers working from Porterville (Tulare County) to Modesto - but he
estimated that the coalition of church groups provided nearly twice as many.
The volunteers have either visited or called about 80 percent of the registered voters in that
part of the Central Valley, with promising results, Boyd said.
"We're not seeing the type of opposition we would in San Francisco," he said.
The demographic split doesn't mean that Prop. 8 doesn't have supporters on the coast or that the
Central Valley isn't home to voters who believe strongly that marriage should be a right for all
Californians.
Dems seek opposition
The state Democratic Party is against Prop. 8, and party groups including the Young Democrats of
America are knocking on doors in the Central Valley, looking to drum up opposition to the
initiative.
"We're pleased with what we're seeing," Virrey said. "We're going out with 'No on 8' signs to
busy intersections in places like Tracy, Manteca and Stockton and seeing lots of people honk and
wave."
Ron Heinzen, an engineer from Stockton, is a Prop. 8 supporter who has put in his time on the
streets, making his pitch each weekend through half-opened doors to people who don't always want
to see him there.
On a recent Saturday, he made his way through a down-at-the-heels Stockton neighborhood, talking
to people who weren't registered, weren't voting or had already had cast mail ballots against
Prop. 8.
But there were others who listened to his talk, took the campaign brochure and promised to vote
for Prop. 8.
Heinzen said the last time he went door-to-door was eight years ago when he walked for Prop. 22,
a law that banned same-sex marriage in California. When the state Supreme Court overturned that
initiative earlier this year, he knew he had to work to pass Prop. 8, a constitutional amendment
that would trump the court ruling.
"I just want to get the message out," he said.
Focus on black churches: Proposition 8's supporters and opponents seek backing from a critical
voting bloc. A11
Voting on same-sex marriage measure
Proposition 8 on the Nov. 4 ballot in California would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to
marry in the state.
What a "Yes" vote means: Would ban same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment, overturning a
state Supreme Court ruling in May that allows same-sex couples to legally wed.
What a "No" vote means: Would allow same-sex couples to continue to legally wed.
E-mail John Wildermuth at jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/MNDF13L3P1.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle |
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| Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: Re: California Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban |
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On Oct 23, 1:20 pm, Texas...@aol.com wrote:
| Quote: | Many in California and most folks out of the Golden State have this belief that California is
split on a North/South basis, which isn't reality, it's much more a coastal versus inland
Political split that is until you get SOUTH of LA County often referred "the Orange Curtain",
Liberal north of that county line, making most of Orange County and San Diego, conservative. The
Central Valley, with Fresno and Bakersfield conservative, along with most of the Palm Springs
area conservative. The Coast Liberal. Far Northern California conservative, and Tahoe liberal.
It's not a North/South divide!
Bill aka Chad James
http://www.noonprop8.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/MNDF13L3P....
Voters split in many ways on gay marriage ban
John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More...
(10-22) 15:47 PDT Stockton - --
Nearly 100 people gathered in a deserted parking lot under a gray Central Valley sky, ready to
knock on doors and tell perfect strangers why they should vote to ban same-sex marriage in
California.
"Just be friendly and say what you know is important," Bill Doughty, a volunteer organizer for
the Yes on 8 campaign, told the crowd.
Stockton is only 90 miles east of San Francisco, but the Central Valley is worlds apart from
coastal California, and the tight ballot battle over same-sex marriage highlights the
distinction.
"There's an increasing divide between the coastal view of the political world and the Central
Valley's view, and you can see that in Proposition 8," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field
Poll. "But the same-sex marriage question splits voters in a lot of ways, by party, by religion,
by age, by region."
In a Field Poll in June that showed Prop. 8 losing statewide, only 37 percent of likely voters in
California's voter-rich coastal counties were backing the same-sex marriage ban, compared with 54
percent in the less-populous inland section of the state. In the Bay Area, the center of the
nation's gay rights movement, support for the measure skidded to 26 percent.
Those numbers might have changed slightly since the summer. Some recent polls showed the race
tightening after a flood of TV ads by proponents of the measure.
While opponents of the initiative are holding events in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles
and Guerneville, it's no coincidence that a weeklong bus trip by Prop. 8 supporters is making
stops in Chico, Bakersfield, Indio (Riverside County) and Modesto.
'Yes' bus visits Oakland
At the bus tour's lone Bay Area stop, in East Oakland on Tuesday, about 100 sign-waving
supporters heard from campaign officials and local black ministers speaking in front of a bus
decorated with ads running the length of the vehicle urging people to "Say 'I Do' to Traditional
Marriage."
"This is not about taking away rights from anyone," said Frank Schubert, campaign consultant for
the Yes on 8 campaign. "It's about standing up for rights."
Opponents of the measure are putting out a different message.
Stephanie Stolte of Turlock (Stanislaus County), an organizer for a Unitarian Universalist group
that is part of the "No on 8" coalition, is asking clergy from Lodi to Fresno to sign on to the
effort to block the same-sex marriage ban, which she describes as "a blatant attempt to rob
(people) of their fundamental rights and freedoms."
She also has put together a small Modesto phone bank that calls undecided voters two days a week,
urging them to oppose Prop. 8. Stolte and other phone bank operators recognize the demographic
differences that are driving the debate.
Martina Virrey, a Stockton organizer with the "No on Prop. 8" effort, has five to 10 people
making calls one night a week. Her callers are targeting what she says are the "young, occasional
voters" who might show up on election day to vote for Democrat Barack Obama for president but who
also are likely to vote against Prop. 8.
"I think age has a lot to do with how people will vote on Prop. 8," she said. "Many young voters
in our area feel they need more information, but once we explain Prop. 8 to them, they tell us,
'Of course I'm voting no on that.' "
Families, friends disagree
That's not the way Myrna Elias, a 29-year-old student from Stockton, sees it.
"A lot of friends had a hard time coming out to their parents and others, and I'm sympathetic to
what they went through," she said. "But I can still love those persons and still be for Prop. 8."
Religion plays a major role in the Central Valley's campaign against same-sex marriage, which
isn't surprising when much of the financial and volunteer support for Prop. 8 has come from
churches across the state. Nearly two-thirds of likely voters who identify themselves as
evangelical Christians back the same-sex marriage ban, the Field Poll showed.
"Proposition 8 doesn't promote or support hate," said Rebecca Whitman, a Stockton mother of five.
"We're putting out the word of God."
Ken Boyd, a volunteer organizer for the Yes on 8 campaign from Kerman (Fresno County), said he
had more than 3,500 volunteers working from Porterville (Tulare County) to Modesto - but he
estimated that the coalition of church groups provided nearly twice as many.
The volunteers have either visited or called about 80 percent of the registered voters in that
part of the Central Valley, with promising results, Boyd said.
"We're not seeing the type of opposition we would in San Francisco," he said.
The demographic split doesn't mean that Prop. 8 doesn't have supporters on the coast or that the
Central Valley isn't home to voters who believe strongly that marriage should be a right for all
Californians.
Dems seek opposition
The state Democratic Party is against Prop. 8, and party groups including the Young Democrats of
America are knocking on doors in the Central Valley, looking to drum up opposition to the
initiative.
"We're pleased with what we're seeing," Virrey said. "We're going out with 'No on 8' signs to
busy intersections in places like Tracy, Manteca and Stockton and seeing lots of people honk and
wave."
Ron Heinzen, an engineer from Stockton, is a Prop. 8 supporter who has put in his time on the
streets, making his pitch each weekend through half-opened doors to people who don't always want
to see him there.
On a recent Saturday, he made his way through a down-at-the-heels Stockton neighborhood, talking
to people who weren't registered, weren't voting or had already had cast mail ballots against
Prop. 8.
But there were others who listened to his talk, took the campaign brochure and promised to vote
for Prop. 8.
Heinzen said the last time he went door-to-door was eight years ago when he walked for Prop. 22,
a law that banned same-sex marriage in California. When the state Supreme Court overturned that
initiative earlier this year, he knew he had to work to pass Prop. 8, a constitutional amendment
that would trump the court ruling.
"I just want to get the message out," he said.
Focus on black churches: Proposition 8's supporters and opponents seek backing from a critical
voting bloc. A11
Voting on same-sex marriage measure
Proposition 8 on the Nov. 4 ballot in California would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to
marry in the state.
What a "Yes" vote means: Would ban same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment, overturning a
state Supreme Court ruling in May that allows same-sex couples to legally wed.
What a "No" vote means: Would allow same-sex couples to continue to legally wed.
E-mail John Wildermuth at jwilderm...@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/MNDF13L3P1.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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a lot of peopkle could go both ways on this. |
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