Politics of San Diego County
| Year | GOP | DEM | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 45.0% 536,726 | 52.2% 626,957 | 2.5% 30,266 |
| 2008 | 43.8% 541,032 | 54.0% 666,581 | 2.3% 27,890 |
| 2004 | 52.5% 596,033 | 46.3% 526,437 | 1.2% 13,881 |
| 2000 | 49.6% 475,736 | 45.7% 437,666 | 4.7% 45,232 |
| 1996 | 45.8% 402,876 | 44.1% 389,964 | 10.3% 91,311 |
| 1992 | 35.7% 352,125 | 37.2% 367,397 | 27.1% 267,124 |
| 1988 | 60.2% 523,143 | 38.3% 333,264 | 1.5% 12,788 |
| 1984 | 65.3% 502,344 | 33.4% 257,029 | 1.3% 9,894 |
| 1980 | 60.8% 435,910 | 27.3% 195,410 | 11.9% 85,546 |
| 1976 | 55.7% 353,302 | 41.6% 263,654 | 2.7% 16,839 |
| 1972 | 61.8% 371,627 | 34.3% 206,455 | 3.8% 23,055 |
| 1968 | 56.3% 261,540 | 36.1% 167,669 | 7.7% 35,654 |
| 1964 | 50.3% 214,445 | 49.7% 211,808 | 0.0% 33 |
| 1960 | 56.4% 233,045 | 43.3% 171,259 | 0.3% 1,106 |
| 1956 | 64.5% 195,742 | 35.2% 106,716 | 0.4% 1,147 |
| 1952 | 63.5% 186,091 | 35.9% 105,255 | 0.6% 1,688 |
| 1948 | 49.4% 101,552 | 47.8% 98,217 | 2.8% 5,690 |
| 1944 | 45.4% 75,746 | 53.9% 89,959 | 0.6% 1,059 |
| 1940 | 43.3% 55,434 | 55.6% 71,188 | 1.2% 1,488 |
| 1936 | 35.0% 35,686 | 63.5% 64,628 | 1.5% 1,540 |
| 1932 | 41.5% 35,305 | 53.6% 45,622 | 5.0% 4,223 |
| 1928 | 67.1% 47,769 | 32.0% 22,749 | 0.9% 633 |
| 1924 | 49.0% 22,726 | 6.4% 2,944 | 44.7% 20,721 |
| 1920 | 63.8% 19,826 | 27.3% 8,478 | 9.0% 2,783 |
| Year | GOP | DEM |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 48.93% 331,942 | 51.07% 346,419 |
| 2010 | 49.8% 452,205 | 44.0% 399,845 |
| 2006 | 65.5% 509,059 | 30.2% 234,938 |
| 2003 | 59.5% 485,563 | 23.6% 192,605 |
| 2002 | 51.7% 342,095 | 40.6% 268,278 |
| 1998 | 46.3% 340,834 | 49.5% 364,169 |
| 1994 | 63.4% 477,439 | 32.0% 240,937 |
| 1990 | 57.1% 383,959 | 36.4% 244,759 |
| 1986 | 65.2% 381,094 | 31.5% 184,395 |
| 1982 | 52.8% 330,037 | 44.6% 279,113 |
| 1978 | 35.9% 197,167 | 57.5% 316,223 |
| 1974 | 54.2% 249,444 | 42.8% 196,930 |
| 1970 | 60.1% 253,378 | 37.5% 158,098 |
| 1966 | 63.8% 252,070 | 36.2% 142,890 |
| 1962 | 55.8% 201,969 | 42.4% 153,389 |
San Diego County has historically been a Republican stronghold. The Republican presidential nominee carried the county in every presidential election from 1948 through 2004, except in 1992 when Bill Clinton won a plurality. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win a majority of votes in San Diego County since World War II; he won a majority of county votes again in 2012.
The city of San Diego itself is more Democratic than the county's average and has voted for Democrats Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and Obama, respectively, in the last six presidential elections. With a few exceptions, areas close to the Mexican border tend to be more Democratic, while North County tends be more Republican. In the 2004 presidential election, San Diego, Encinitas, National City, Del Mar, and some other areas voted for John Kerry; San Marcos, Escondido, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Coronado, Santee, Poway, El Cajon, and Vista overwhelmingly backed George W. Bush. Chula Vista, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Solana Beach, and Imperial Beach are considered swing areas of the county – Chula Vista and Imperial Beach narrowly backed Al Gore in 2000 but narrowly voted for Bush in 2004, while Solana Beach switched from Bush in 2000 to Kerry in 2004. La Mesa narrowly voted for Bush both times, and Lemon Grove narrowly went Democratic both times. However, all of these swing areas as well as Oceanside voted for Obama in 2008.
Election Central
San Diego County uses Golden Hall, a convention facility next to San Diego's City Hall, as "Election Central." The County Registrar of Voters rents the hall to distribute election results. Supporters and political observers gather to watch the results come in; supporters of the various candidates parade around the hall, carrying signs and chanting; candidates give their victory and concession speeches and host parties for campaign volunteers and donors at the site; and television stations broadcast live from the floor of the convention center.[1] The atmosphere at Election Central on the evening of election day has been compared to the voting portion of a political party national convention.[2]
Federal and state representation
In the United States House of Representatives, San Diego County is split between five congressional districts:[3]
- California's 49th congressional district, represented by Republican Darrell Issa
- California's 50th congressional district, represented by Republican Duncan D. Hunter
- California's 51st congressional district, represented by Democrat Juan Vargas
- California's 52nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Scott Peters and
- California's 53rd congressional district, represented by Democrat Susan Davis.
In the California State Assembly, San Diego County is split between seven legislative districts:[4]
- the 71st Assembly District, represented by Republican Randy Voepel,
- the 75th Assembly District, represented by Republican Marie Waldron,
- the 76th Assembly District, represented by Republican Rocky Chávez,
- the 77th Assembly District, represented by Republican Brian Maienschein,
- the 78th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Todd Gloria,
- the 79th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Shirley Weber, and
- the 80th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Lorena Gonzalez.
In the California State Senate, San Diego County is split between four legislative districts:[5]
- the 36th Senate District, represented by Republican Patricia Bates,
- the 38th Senate District, represented by Republican Joel Anderson,
- the 39th Senate District, represented by Democrat Toni Atkins, and
- the 40th Senate District, represented by Democrat Ben Hueso.
Voter registration
| Population and registered voters (2014) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total population[6] | 3,060,849 | |
| Registered voters[7][note 1] | 1,530,462 | 50.0% |
| Democratic[7] | 531,941 | 34.8% |
| Republican[7] | 503,639 | 32.9% |
| Democratic–Republican spread[7] | +28,302 | +1.9% |
| No party preference[7] | 412,807 | 27.0% |
| American Independent[7] | 52,088 | 3.4% |
| Libertarian[7] | 12,484 | 0.8% |
| Green[7] | 7,668 | 0.5% |
| Other[7] | 5,695 | 0.4% |
| Peace and Freedom[7] | 4,140 | 0.3% |
According to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, as of June 2013, there are 1,556,739 registered voters in San Diego County. Of those, 547,897 (35.2%) are registered Democratic, 526,306 (33.8%) are registered Republican, 401,340 (25.8%) declined to state a political party, 51,993 (3.3%) are registered American Independence Party, 11,657 (0.7%) are registered Libertarian, 7,675 (0.5%) are registered Green, and 4,012 (0.3%) are registered Peace & Freedom.[8]
Voter registration by city
| Cities by population and voter registration | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Population[6] | Registered voters[7] [note 1] |
Democratic[7] | Republican[7] | D–R spread[7] | Other[7] | No party preference[7] |
| Carlsbad | 102,342 | 64.7% | 28.0% | 42.0% | -14.0% | 8.5% | 24.9% |
| Chula Vista | 236,218 | 48.2% | 42.0% | 27.7% | +14.3% | 6.9% | 26.1% |
| Coronado | 19,423 | 55.0% | 24.5% | 47.3% | -22.8% | 8.0% | 23.5% |
| Del Mar | 4,175 | 77.2% | 34.2% | 34.7% | -0.5% | 7.4% | 26.7% |
| El Cajon | 98,813 | 40.9% | 33.7% | 37.4% | -3.7% | 9.5% | 23.2% |
| Encinitas | 59,223 | 67.8% | 35.1% | 32.8% | +2.3% | 9.0% | 26.4% |
| Escondido | 142,573 | 41.8% | 28.3% | 42.4% | -14.1% | 9.3% | 23.7% |
| Imperial Beach | 26,348 | 42.9% | 37.1% | 26.7% | +10.4% | 10.4% | 29.6% |
| La Mesa | 56,722 | 58.3% | 37.9% | 32.5% | +5.4% | 9.8% | 23.6% |
| Lemon Grove | 25,250 | 51.2% | 44.5% | 27.7% | +16.8% | 8.4% | 22.6% |
| National City | 58,015 | 32.9% | 48.9% | 19.5% | +29.4% | 7.0% | 27.2% |
| Oceanside | 166,139 | 50.5% | 31.6% | 37.8% | -6.2% | 9.2% | 25.1% |
| Poway | 47,762 | 61.5% | 24.8% | 45.7% | -20.9% | 7.8% | 24.8% |
| San Diego | 1,296,437 | 52.6% | 40.2% | 27.0% | +13.2% | 8.2% | 27.7% |
| San Marcos | 80,709 | 48.5% | 29.3% | 40.6% | -11.3% | 9.1% | 24.8% |
| Santee | 53,302 | 59.2% | 27.0% | 43.9% | -16.9% | 9.7% | 23.2% |
| Solana Beach | 12,864 | 68.0% | 32.4% | 37.1% | -4.7% | 7.4% | 26.0% |
| Vista | 93,293 | 40.6% | 29.9% | 39.6% | -9.7% | 9.4% | 24.8% |
Gay rights
On Nov 4, 2008 San Diego County voted 53.8% for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, thus restoring Proposition 22 which was overturned by a ruling from the California Supreme Court. However the city of San Diego, along with Del Mar, Encinitas, and Solana Beach, voted against Proposition 8.[9]
Notes
References
- ↑ Libby, Sarah (November 5, 2012). "Where to Find Us on Election Day". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
- ↑ Amid the celebrations, farewell | The San Diego Union-Tribune
- ↑ "Counties by County and by District". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
- ↑ "Communities of Interest — County". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
- ↑ "Communities of Interest — County". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
- 1 2 U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. American FactFinder. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Report of Registration - State Reporting Districts" (PDF). sdvote.com. County of San Diego. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
- ↑ "Report of Registration - State Reporting Districts" (PDF). San Diego County. December 3, 2015.
- ↑ San Diego County Proposition 8 Results by Community