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Welcome to Surfing Political Waves, a short series podcast hosted by the Pepperdine School

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of Public Policy.

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This is Dan Schnurr.

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And I'm Joel Fox.

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And we're bringing you California election insight and analysis as the country ramps

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up to one of the most historic presidential races in memory, as well as other fascinating

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campaigns up and down the ballot.

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Today we're welcoming Mark Baldazzari to Surfing Political Waves.

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I hope you're a surfer, Mark, because we got a lot of waves to go for across.

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Mark is a survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he holds the

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RJ and Francis Fehring Miller Chair in Public Policy.

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For 15 years prior, he served as president and CEO of PPIC, the Public Policy Institute

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of California.

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He's a leading expert on public opinion, survey methodology, and he's directed the PPIC statewide

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survey since 1998, which is probably, if not the most, one of the top two polls in the

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state of California.

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He's an authority on elections, voter behavior, political and fiscal reform, and he's authored

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10 books.

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So we have the man to talk about polling, and let's start off this conversation.

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Mark, welcome.

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Here's how I think I want to begin.

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One of the most overused quotes in politics is, the only poll that counts is on election

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day.

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Often used by candidates or their campaigns when they are behind in a poll.

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But they're implying that the polls can't be trusted.

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So tell me, how accurate are polls?

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Joel, first of all, thank you for inviting me.

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It's wonderful to be at Pepperdine, and I'm so glad to be part of a program that includes

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surfing.

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So that's a great question, and you're right, the question comes up a lot of times when

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people are behind in the polls, and they're trying to make sure that their supporters

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aren't getting too discouraged about that to stop working.

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So what we know is that when polls are done correctly, they can accurately represent how

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the public feels at a certain point in time.

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So to me, I think that the key to understanding polls is that you look at the dates, and you

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think about the dates in terms of how close are you to an election?

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Are you close enough?

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And what are the trends been?

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But I think that the other thing about polls to remember is that they're a snapshot in

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time.

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So they're accurate, but they're a snapshot in time.

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Well how about a little tutorial of modern technology?

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How do you conduct polls nowadays?

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When I was young, someone was on a telephone making phone calls.

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That's not the way we do it anymore.

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Can you give us a sort of a brief synopsis of the polling world today?

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Yeah, in the good old days, you got random telephone numbers and you called people, and

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50% of the people you called would answer the poll.

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And then I would go around and give talks about polls during that time, and there would

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always be people in the audience who raised their hand and said, how come you didn't call

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me?

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And how do I get my name on this list so that you're going to call me the next time you

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do a poll?

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It's like, well, no, that's not the way it works.

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It's random.

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That's why you weren't called, and that's why I can't take your name for a list.

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But then we went through a period of time when fewer and fewer and fewer people said

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that they were willing to be called for polls, and we had to look for other ways to reach

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people.

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And as more people got away from their landlines and their home, and they got to cell phones,

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and when we call people on cell phones, but then that wasn't working anymore, they weren't

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answering their cell phones either.

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So we started reaching people online.

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And today, some of the best polling is done online with panels that are representative

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of the public, or if they're not random panels, they're panels that are large enough that

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you can weight the data to what the population looks like at any given point in time.

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So today, most of the polling that we're talking about is done online, and they're done with

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panels of people who've been selected because they represent some portion of the public.

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But don't people when they look, I get texts, they say we're XY survey.

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And we're going to keep your answers confidential.

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And we're always warned about getting texts and not, you know, being wary of phishing.

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So do I just say forget it and my representation is lost?

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How do you trust if you're getting a legitimate survey?

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Yeah.

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Well, you have to go through a lot of sampling to get to the point where you've reached enough

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people who trust the process that it's representative.

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Now, not everybody does polling the same way.

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There are some who some polls where they will send 100,000 emails out and get 5000 responses

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back and they'll send them out to people who are registered voters who you have the email

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address for.

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And then they'll take those numbers and they'll wait them and so forth.

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That's not the way we do it.

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We take people who have been recruited in previous polls and who've agreed to stay on

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and give their answers to polls that are conducted by a variety of sources.

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But it's a tough problem.

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Every election will go through a soul searching about what's the best method.

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And the last election, the 2022 election, it seemed clear to me based on the polls that

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were most accurate.

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And at the end of the day, it's that final poll that you do in an election that counts

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the most for your accuracy.

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But those polls seem to me to indicate that we had we'd gone to a point where online panels

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were something that we would want to replicate.

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So we're in an election year.

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We're a couple of months away from the big election.

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People want to know how things are going.

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Let me start this way.

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I looked at your July poll and you did this was post the June 27th debate in which President

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Biden had a little problems, which ultimately ended his run for the presidency.

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But at the time, your poll was Trump versus Biden.

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And it showed in California a big lead for Biden because it's a blue state.

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I'm wondering if there's with a Californian now on the ballot.

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Does that lead going to widen or do you anticipate things are going to stay pretty much where

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they were, which was about two to one for the Democrat?

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Well, that's a big question.

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So let's let me answer that by saying I don't think that the results are going to change

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much with a change at the top of the ticket.

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We could go all the way back to 2016 and take a look at Trump versus Clinton or go to 2020

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and look at Trump versus Biden in that matchup and then look at our recent polling and all

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kinds of events and things that have happened in between to Trump and Biden or Clinton.

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And and not see much change.

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This is a reflection of the fact that we live at a time of hyper partisan politics, that

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Democrats are not only voting for the Democrat, but they're voting against the Republican

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and vice versa.

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Very few people in either party and among the independent voters say that they haven't

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made up their minds and will change.

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So I don't expect the changes to be great.

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But you know, stay tuned.

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We'll know more.

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But does polling affect an election to the extent revisiting the 2016 election?

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Polling said Hillary Clinton is going to be elected president of the United States.

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Her supporters might have said, well, she doesn't need my vote.

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I'm not going to show up.

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And Donald Trump wins some squeakers in swing states and becomes president of the United

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States.

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Does Kamala Harris have to fear that kind of a reaction if she builds up her lead?

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What kind of lead does she need?

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We already hear projections she needs to have at least a five percent national polling lead.

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But it really doesn't come down to national votes, does it, Mark?

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It's about the states.

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Yeah.

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And I think that it's so important to understand that, you know, that Clinton actually did

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win the popular vote in 2016.

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And Biden won the popular vote by a substantial margin in 2020.

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But at the end of the day, it's in our electoral college system, winner take all state by state

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with six states where the elections have been very close in the past and are likely to be

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close now, that the polling, the national polling is not going to tell us much about

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who is going to be the next president.

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They might tell us about the popular vote if it's beyond the margin of error.

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But even if so, even if it's five points or whatever.

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But I agree with you that the polling can be the candidates will worry about the polling

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because they worry about their their voters staying home and saying, oh, it's a foregone

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conclusion.

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But the reality is that most people are going to go out and vote because they want to be

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part of history.

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And whether it's the recall of the governor or another matchup with Trump, that if they

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feel like their vote really matters and it's important, no matter what the polls say, they're

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going to go out and vote for that reason.

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Well, a different perspective than what about voters who don't trust polling and will either

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say they're not going to respond or they'll say, well, it's a social stigma if I support

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candidate A. So I'm going to say I'm going to support candidate B, but I'm really voting

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for candidate A. Yeah.

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You run into that.

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Do you have a sense of it?

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So I worry about that a lot.

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I worry about who the sponsor of the poll is and what the people think of the sponsor

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and whether that if if they don't like the particular media sponsor or if they like them,

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that it's going to impact whether or not they're going to participate in the poll.

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And I think that that has been a problem with polls in the past.

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And I think that it's important to look at who is sponsoring the poll and how that is

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set up in a way that might encourage or discourage people from either participating or giving

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honest answers.

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I was wondering about the growing independent vote in the country.

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And independent voters tend to be more moderate.

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I think you found that in some of your surveys.

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How does that affect the strategy of the campaigns?

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And do they focus on polling that deals with the independent voters?

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Since we're so partisan, it seems like we know where the Democrats are going.

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We know where the Republicans are going.

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Tell us about the independent voters and how how you gather information about them.

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Yeah, I think the independent voters are very important in national elections and also in

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elections in our state.

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And whenever I hear about independent voters, I think about the people who've been successful

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running for governor, Democrats, the Republicans.

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And that expression you've heard it a million times to paddle to the left and paddle to

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the right.

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Right.

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This isn't so this isn't so you get your party base.

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This is so you're appealing to the one in four voters who are independents, a large

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number of them, let's say half of them who consider themselves political moderates.

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And in a close election, you really have to think about that that group.

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You also have to think, though, about whatever amount of time you're spending on trying to

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get get that vote engaged and motivated, because that's where the work comes in is convincing

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those voters, those people who are independents and middle of the road, that this is important

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enough for them to participate in and finding, you know, that whatever it is, that that that

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magical element that's going to motivate them to go out to vote when they're going to decide

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in every election whether or not they're going to vote, unlike the people who consider or

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Republican conservatives or Democratic liberals who, you know, they're going to go out to

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vote.

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They've already made up their minds.

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But it's that independent, moderate voter that that can be the key to winning in a battleground

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state or or or for candidates who are running for Congress in this state in those districts

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that are swing districts, whether or not they win.

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So you acknowledge your experience on candidate campaigns.

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And I know you will talk about some of the other kind of campaigns that you survey.

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But with candidate campaigns, are the campaign teams particularly interested in this independent

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segment?

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Is that what they will you get a lot of questions because that's probably the swing of the election.

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I think that they're very interested.

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But from the world in which they most of them operate, they're very confused about, you

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know, how to appeal to that group.

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I think that the group that we're talking about, the middle of the road independent,

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these are the voters who are issue oriented.

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They're not looking at the party labels.

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They're looking at what's what's happening in their lives.

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What are the top issues in their lives, whether it's, you know, whether it's jobs or it's

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inflation or it's the cost of housing.

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And they're looking to see what candidates have to say about those issues that might

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make a difference.

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But, I mean, I heard in both the Republican National Convention speeches and the Democratic

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National Convention speeches, some attention to that issue of what's in the middle and

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how not to alienate that group in the middle also by saying certain things, whether it's

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about immigration or abortion or guns or the environment that might alienate that group

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and say, no, they're not for me.

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And how important is the policy questions that you face?

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Everyone says that's the most important thing.

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But do the voters react to policy or do they react to personality?

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And how do you test that?

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Yeah.

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So I think that for the voters who are hardline Democrats and hardline Republicans, they are

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into the personalities and they're into the party and they're willing to accept party

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platforms.

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And I hear this so often.

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Well, I don't, you know, I don't agree with what, you know, this candidate said about

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abortion, but I'm going to vote for them anyway.

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Or I don't agree with what that candidate said about climate change, but I'm going to

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vote for them anyway, because I'm voting not so much for somebody but against the other

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side.

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But for those people in the middle, again, I think policies matter a great deal.

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And let's face it, also, the policies matter a great deal for the campaigns in terms of

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how do you attract the funding that you need to get your message out?

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And I think that is where a lot of the candidates are thinking about those party platforms in

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terms of what do I need to appeal to the funders that I need to make a go of this?

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So it's been a tough election year.

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It's been a lot of bickering already, of course, as there always is.

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But the voters themselves have been down a little bit.

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Inflation, economy, other issues.

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But recently I saw a poll that said that optimism is on the rise a little bit.

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What are you sensing in your polling?

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I mean, I'll be looking for that this fall.

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Honestly, I haven't seen much in the way of what I would describe as optimism being on

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the rise.

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You might see maybe among Democrats who thought that they're in better shape because they

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have Harris and Biden, that that's their definition of optimism being on the rise.

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But there are so many things that people are concerned about in terms of the state of the

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world and the state of the country and the state of the democracy that would really make

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optimism be on the rise.

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It's something that they're not going to see in these elections, which is that Democrats

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and Republicans are looking for common ground.

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So let's take a look at California.

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That's where you and I are both living and that's where you are the expert in polling,

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although your expertise goes national as well.

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But in a recent Cook political report, they chose 10 competitive districts in California.

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And the Democratic candidate, according to what I read, leads the Republican candidate

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and these are generic, I believe, two to one, 63 to 36.

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So if I look at those numbers, do I say to myself in these competitive races, it's all

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over?

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The House majority has been decided.

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How do I interpret that?

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Well, I think you have to interpret that with caution because I am also looking at the aggregate

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numbers for those competitive districts.

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But that doesn't tell you about what's going on in each of those individual districts.

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And the 10 competitive districts that we're talking about, some of them are leaning Democrat,

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leaning Republican, they have incumbents in place, a lot of dimensions which are explaining

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why you have that kind of margin.

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But there are, let's say three or four of those within a subset, which I think are actually

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going to be a lot closer and harder to determine who's going to win.

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Are older, whiter voters still making policy in California?

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I think that older and white voters are disproportionately represented in the electorate in California

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compared to what the electorate would look like if it reflected the population of the

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state.

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Yes, but I think to a lesser degree than let's say we saw 10 years ago because of changes

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that have been made in making it easier to vote and making it easier to register to vote.

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So then let's talk about the Latino community in California, which of course compromises

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36% of Californians, according to an excellent report that you put together for PPIC, I read,

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on both the parties in California and the likely voters in California.

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So the Latino community comprises 36% of Californians, yet only 26% of likely voters.

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So that's a voter base that remains available to both parties.

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Do they get it?

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Do they understand?

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Are they trying to reach those parties?

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What's your experience about that?

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I think that they get it.

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I think that they're trying to reach those parties.

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And I think that one of the things that has to be understood about the Latino vote in

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California is that it's not a monolithic voting group.

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It's not necessarily all liberal or all democratic.

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And there are different generations are represented, different elements of being economically assimilated.

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But it's a large group that is underrepresented.

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And to reach this large group, I think it's a mistake to think that all Latino voters

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are the same because they're not.

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The other paradox I want to take a look at is that in California, very liberal state,

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they sometimes vote more conservatively, particularly on tax issues, financial issues, and maybe

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pretty soon on crime issues.

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How does that happen when we have a two to one margin for Democrats and we have the bluest,

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if, well, maybe not quite the bluest, second or third bluest state in the country, yet

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the voters will turn out, they almost shocked Governor Newsom in the March election by barely

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he passed that bond.

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How does that happen?

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The bond barely passed.

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There was a bond measure that failed in 2020 for schools, surprised everyone.

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And I think the thing that always intrigues me about the state propositions is that when

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you're looking at the top of the ballot, you have names and you have Ds and Rs next to

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the names.

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When you get down to the propositions, you have numbers for those propositions and you

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have a yes or a no.

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And people are not necessarily prompted by those measures in terms of what their partisan

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leanings are.

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And they're looking at the issues that a lot of times people are looking at pocketbook

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issues, right?

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When you're voting for a bond measure or a tax, you're not just thinking about spending

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00:24:03,820 --> 00:24:08,040
the money, you're thinking about how is it going to affect my money at a time when I'm

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thinking about the economy.

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And you can have a lot of different outcomes.

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Maybe the partisans, one of the reasons that they're, I think, concerned about what happens

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00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:25,520
when people vote yes or no, because they're not going to vote along party lines necessarily.

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So this polling pick up on how voters perceive issues.

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And I'm thinking specifically here of the crime issue.

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It's been very prominent here in the state of California.

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There's been a lot of videos of smash and grab, unusual, there have been some shootings.

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00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:53,800
Yet every time that occurs, there's usually a newspaper article that says, hey, crime's

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00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,240
down, folks, don't panic.

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00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,200
But the voters don't see it that way.

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Is your polling pick up the perception of the voters that the voters see crime as a

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00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:07,960
real major issue?

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And I guess part B is, do they hear those opposition voices that say crime is down?

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Can you determine whether they're hearing that in your polling?

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OK, so crime's an interesting issue because it's on the ballot as a statewide issue.

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And when we look at where crime ranks as a statewide issue and an open ended question,

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00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:45,920
there'll be less than 10% of the people who say it's the most important problem facing

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00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,200
the state today.

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00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:49,200
That wasn't always the case.

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00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:55,120
If I look back at the late 90s, it was one of the top issues.

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00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:59,860
Today the top issue is the economy and housing affordability as a state issue.

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00:25:59,860 --> 00:26:06,400
If you ask people about crime in their neighborhood or in their local area, you'll have half of

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00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,920
the people saying crime's increased or they're worried about crime or they're worried about

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00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:16,480
being a victim of crime and they're particularly worried about property crimes.

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00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:23,800
So when it comes to a state proposition, people are going to look at it in terms of how is

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00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:25,120
this going to impact?

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00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,760
How is the state going to impact?

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00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:29,360
State proposition going to impact?

341
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:33,960
What's going on about crime in my local area?

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00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,560
Is it going to make me feel safer?

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00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:40,640
Is something going to be done that's going to make me feel safer?

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The other side of the crime issue, I hope you appreciate this as well, but it's something

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that if you go back to the fact that voters supported Prop 47, which reduced certain penalties

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00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:10,120
or punishments about crime, is that people don't want to spend the money on incarceration

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00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:12,680
and on prisons, right?

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If you ask people, here's a state budget, what are your top priorities?

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00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:23,920
They're going to say, well, it's education, it's health and human services, it's higher

350
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:24,920
ed.

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I don't want to see money spent on crime.

352
00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:29,840
In fact, you're polling for years.

353
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,760
We have talked about this in the past.

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00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:36,560
You're polling for years said, what's the one we spend the most money on?

355
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,160
We spend the most money by millions on education.

356
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:41,840
But what did the voters tell you?

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00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:42,840
They told you prisons.

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Right.

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So they really don't, you know, so this is where, you know, I just love the process that

360
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,340
people are going to have to do to work out this issue, right?

361
00:27:54,340 --> 00:27:55,920
It's a local issue to them.

362
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It's not a state issue.

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00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:04,400
And they don't feel like their locals are doing enough to provide the public safety.

364
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,760
But they don't want to see more money spent on prisons, even though they want it.

365
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:15,440
So how do you resolve all of these, you know, kind of conflicting perceptions here?

366
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Fascinating.

367
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:17,640
It is.

368
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,640
And the other thing that interests me and I'm going right now to your wheelhouse, which

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00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:33,400
is the initiative process, is that the legislature is supermajority Democrat, liberal.

370
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,840
The voters don't always come out that way, as we've already talked about.

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They may not on the crime issue soon.

372
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,320
They didn't on some financial issues.

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Affirmative action.

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Twice have come out against affirmative action.

375
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:53,640
Yet they keep on sending the same elected officials back to office.

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00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:57,560
Is that a dichotomy or can you explain that to our listeners?

377
00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:58,560
Yeah.

378
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:06,640
So in our state, you know, if we were looking at states that had gerrymandered like legislatures

379
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:11,440
that you said that, well, that's, you know, they don't really reflect the public will.

380
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:16,080
It's the party in power has joined the districts.

381
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,440
But in our state, we have independent redistricting now.

382
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:28,640
So I don't think it has to do with these legislative districts, you know, being drawn in a particularly

383
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,400
funny way for political reasons.

384
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:37,880
But it has to do with communities that people live in and where whether the communities

385
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:46,120
are predominantly Democratic voters or predominantly Republican voters, we now have a top two primary

386
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:51,960
system where sometimes people are choosing between two Democrats or two Republicans also

387
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:57,360
in their district because, you know, we just it's again, I think, a reflection of the fact

388
00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:03,280
that we live in a polarized time, but also we live in a time in which there's political

389
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,120
segregation in this state.

390
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,640
So let's talk about the initiative process.

391
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,040
You're writing a book about it.

392
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:17,520
And it is changed a little bit because now a proponent of initiative has the ability

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00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,360
to pull that initiative off the ballot.

394
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,720
They didn't have that power once it qualified in the past.

395
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,880
They do now up to a certain point.

396
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:31,520
Now we're seeing initiatives being filed, which forces the legislature into some kind

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00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:37,400
of a negotiation in which a compromise can be achieved.

398
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,480
And then the proponent pulls their initiative.

399
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:41,840
We're going to see a lot more of that.

400
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:47,760
Are we seeing the changing of I like to phrase it as the changing of lawmaking in California?

401
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:49,920
How do you perceive it?

402
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:55,720
I think we're if current trends persist, we're heading towards what I would call a different

403
00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,640
form of hybrid democracy than we've had in the past.

404
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:12,960
And it's one in which the legislature and the governor have a lot more ability to intervene.

405
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:23,320
And as a result, certain initiatives and referenda won't actually make it to the ballot if there's

406
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:27,600
a settlement between the proponents and the legislature.

407
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,360
I have concerns about that.

408
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:35,320
And I've written about that and suggested that, you know, there were there were over

409
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,320
a there had been over a dozen cases since the law changed.

410
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:46,220
There's only been one case in which the voters actually had a chance to vote on the compromise

411
00:31:46,220 --> 00:31:50,840
bill because it actually turned out to be a constitutional amendment that that was needed.

412
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:55,800
I think you're probably aware of this, the property taxes measure, which then narrowly

413
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,320
passed.

414
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:04,080
But I'd like to see more examples of either the voters having a chance to provide some

415
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:10,680
input during those negotiations or some circumstances, not necessarily everyone, but on certain

416
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:17,800
important things where the legislature brings that back to the voters for a vote and sees

417
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,080
if that compromise is something that the voters want.

418
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,520
But you see you're going to see more of this happening.

419
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:28,080
I think I think we're going to see more of it happening from from the people that I've

420
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:34,280
spoken to from what we saw in this election, where there were seven measures, either withdrawn

421
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:35,840
or removed.

422
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:42,320
The ballot measure is removed, as you know, because the governor and sued to get the measure

423
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,360
off and the court agreed with it.

424
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:49,560
I think that you're going to see more examples of the legislature and the governor acting

425
00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:57,040
to try to do what they can to keep things off the ballot and to get bills that are more

426
00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:58,040
to their liking.

427
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:03,880
Are they are jealous of sharing the power of lawmaking?

428
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:11,040
I think that that there's always been that that that tendency to want to keep it keep

429
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,040
it inside.

430
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:18,360
I want to go back to what the roots of the the direct democracy we have in California.

431
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:23,760
And that's about making sure that the legislature and the special interests don't get together

432
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:28,880
and make decisions on everything, that the voters have a chance to do that.

433
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:37,320
I don't think that that having compromise bills are necessarily aligned with what what

434
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:42,520
the intent of the direct democracy system is.

435
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:50,080
The one thing that I will say, though, about our initiative system is that, as you well

436
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:53,920
know, it takes a lot of money to put things on the ballot.

437
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,600
And that means that most citizen groups don't get that chance.

438
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,640
And I'd like to see some more done to make sure that citizen groups have a chance, whether

439
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,040
it's extending the time for volunteer signatures or something that gives citizens more of a

440
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,920
chance to put initiatives on the ballot.

441
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,040
Well, it's been a great discussion.

442
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:15,880
I'd like to just give you one last opportunity to close up if you have an interesting anecdotal

443
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:20,320
story in your polling career that you would like to share with the audience.

444
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,040
I'm blindsiding you with this.

445
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,720
So if you don't have one, it's understandable.

446
00:34:24,720 --> 00:34:27,480
But you got something you can tell us?

447
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:36,960
Well, I think that, you know, for for those of us in the the polling business, we're we're

448
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:41,160
always amazed at how many surprises there can be on Election Day.

449
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:46,200
And the areas in which I've consistently seen the most most surprises are around the state

450
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,640
propositions in California.

451
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,280
And we have 10 measures on the ballot this time around.

452
00:34:53,280 --> 00:35:00,600
But I can tell you that, you know, over time, my my surprise at the flexibility of voters

453
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:07,480
and their wisdom comes in how they handle the state propositions.

454
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:11,320
Oh, that's a good positive note to end on.

455
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,920
Mark Baldazzari, thank you for surfing political waves here at Pepperdine University.

456
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:17,360
It's been a pleasure.

457
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:21,120
Thank you.

458
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:25,760
Thanks for joining us for this conversation on surfing political waves.

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00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:31,120
For more engaging dialogue on politics and policy, visit Pepperdine School of Public

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00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:36,240
Policy on YouTube at Pepperdine SPP.

461
00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:38,560
Offer upcoming community events.

462
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:52,360
Go to public policy dot Pepperdine dot edu slash events.

463
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,960
Thanks for joining us for this conversation on surfing political waves.

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For more engaging dialogue on politics and policy, visit Pepperdine School of Public

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Policy on YouTube at Pepperdine SPP.

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For upcoming community events, go to public policy dot Pepperdine dot edu slash events.