8
Democrats voted to remove Gov. Davis from office and 18% selected Schwarzenegger to
replace him. The movie star turned governor even won 31% of the Hispanic vote and
42% of the labor union vote. As expected, he did well among Republicans even with one
other significant Republican candidate on the ballot. Seventy-four percent Republicans
voted for Schwarzenegger and 17% selected the more conservative McClintock.
13
[Insert Table 1]
The vote choices of Californians were unprecedented – nearly 63% voted for a
Republican candidate to replace Gov. Davis. This vote is a substantial departure from
recent presidential, senate and governor selections where Republicans have had some
trouble fielding truly competitive candidates. Only a third of California voters selected a
Democrat replacement candidate in the recall even as Democrats made up a majority of
the candidates on the ballot. Among other parties, only the Green Party candidates
exceed a 2% vote share.
[Insert Figure 1]
HYPOTHESES
Stone and Datta conclude from their analysis of county-level voting data that
“despite the unconventional aspects of the 2003 recall election, counties votes on the
recall were strongly related to their vote divisions in the 2002 gubernatorial election”
(2004 21). Our research begins by segueing to the question: How distinctive was the
2003 recall election voting electorate from that which participated in the 2002
13
The divisions are primarily along Culture War lines. Schwarzenegger supports domestic partnerships,
some gun control measures, opposes school vouchers, and he is pro-choice. McClintock takes the opposing
Convention