California, the Left Coast (Five Things)
While many parts of the country tacked to the right in electing Donald Trump president last Tuesday, California continued leaning to the left. Not only did Californians pick Clinton over Trump by one of the larger state-level margins in the US, but numerous propositions passed by voters move the state further left on issues such as education and gun control. I'll write about the propositions soon; for today I'll focus on the presidential results.
Here's a graphic I built from the California Secretary of State's returns page showing the results by candidate and county:
Five Things interesting things about this result and the numbers behind it:
1) The Left Coast. All three states on the West Coast picked Clinton over Trump. Leaning left politically has been a thing for California, Oregon, and Washington for years. That's why we (all three) are called the Left Coast. Though California is the left-est of these three. Oregon picked Clinton by 10.5 points over Trump, Washington by 15.5 points, and California by a whopping 28.5 point margin. (Sources: NY Times Election Results, California Secretary of State)
2) California became more blue this year. Clinton beat Trump by 28.5 points. Compare that to Obama's 2012 victory over Romney by 21 points, Obama's 2008 victory over McCain by 24 points, Kerry over Bush in 2004 by 10, and Gore over Bush in 2000 by 12. (Sources: Wikipedia California election results 2012, 2008, 2004, and 2000)
3) Orange County turned blue! For decades a Republican stronghold, this year Orange County picked Clinton over Trump by 5 points. (Source: Calfornia Secretary of State - Orange County Results)
4) The Bay Area is even bluer than the state. Santa Clara County, where I live, picked Clinton by a whopping 52 point margin over Trump. Nearby San Mateo County returned an even larger margin of 57 points. The City and County of San Francisco picked Clinton 84.3% to Trump's 9.9%, an astonishing 75.4 point margin. (Okay, maybe the astonishing thing about SF is that Trump got nearly 10% of the vote there at all.)
5) [Updated] Within my own precinct the vote tally is 78% to 15.5%, a margin of 62.5 points. (Sources: Santa Clara County election results, LA Times election results by neighborhood) So, my neighborhood is much bluer than the state and slightly bluer than the county overall but not as blue as San Francisco. That's all as I expected.
Here's a graphic I built from the California Secretary of State's returns page showing the results by candidate and county:
Five Things interesting things about this result and the numbers behind it:
1) The Left Coast. All three states on the West Coast picked Clinton over Trump. Leaning left politically has been a thing for California, Oregon, and Washington for years. That's why we (all three) are called the Left Coast. Though California is the left-est of these three. Oregon picked Clinton by 10.5 points over Trump, Washington by 15.5 points, and California by a whopping 28.5 point margin. (Sources: NY Times Election Results, California Secretary of State)
2) California became more blue this year. Clinton beat Trump by 28.5 points. Compare that to Obama's 2012 victory over Romney by 21 points, Obama's 2008 victory over McCain by 24 points, Kerry over Bush in 2004 by 10, and Gore over Bush in 2000 by 12. (Sources: Wikipedia California election results 2012, 2008, 2004, and 2000)
3) Orange County turned blue! For decades a Republican stronghold, this year Orange County picked Clinton over Trump by 5 points. (Source: Calfornia Secretary of State - Orange County Results)
4) The Bay Area is even bluer than the state. Santa Clara County, where I live, picked Clinton by a whopping 52 point margin over Trump. Nearby San Mateo County returned an even larger margin of 57 points. The City and County of San Francisco picked Clinton 84.3% to Trump's 9.9%, an astonishing 75.4 point margin. (Okay, maybe the astonishing thing about SF is that Trump got nearly 10% of the vote there at all.)
5) [Updated] Within my own precinct the vote tally is 78% to 15.5%, a margin of 62.5 points. (Sources: Santa Clara County election results, LA Times election results by neighborhood) So, my neighborhood is much bluer than the state and slightly bluer than the county overall but not as blue as San Francisco. That's all as I expected.