Be very, very careful when interpreting returned ballots data in the #CAGOV race.
- Democrats are more likely to vote by mail + turn in ballots earlier
- Lower I turnout is expected for this type of election
- Many counties may be underreporting ballots
Also important to remember that the recall election is not just about turnout - it's also about persuasion.
Republicans can't win just with high turnout - the numbers aren't there. They have to flip Biden voters. They're definitely flipping some, just a question of is it enough.
(I will have more analysis of the #CAGOV returned ballots data when I have time!)
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California Returned Ballots Update (with a comparison to the equivalent point in 2020):
Aug 30, 2021 - 3,796,496 votes
54.48% D / 23.51% R / 22.02% I
D+30.97%
Oct 19, 2020 - 3,988,502 votes
56.21% D / 21.07% R / 22.72% I
D+35.14%
Takeaways from CA returned ballots data:
- Turnout is high, almost keeping pace with returned ballots at an equivalent point in 2020.
- GOP may have a small enthusiasm advantage (4% change in D-R right now), but will need to flip many Biden voters to win.
Keep in mind that this turnout data does NOT mean that Republicans are gonna lose in a landslide.
The CBS/YouGov poll had a Likely Voters / Registered Voters gap of only 4 points but was close because they found 16% of Biden voters were for the recall.
Current breakdown of returned ballots in CA is 54% D / 24% R / 22% I.
At an equivalent point in 2020 (Saturday 10/17), the breakdown was 57% D / 21% R / 22% I.
Consistent with a small R enthusiasm advantage relative to 2020 (note: this is NOT me saying the recall wins).
This is not to say that the recall will prevail (we currently have it at Likely D), but just that current returns suggest an electorate that may ultimately be a few points more favorable for Republicans than November 2020.
To win, Republicans need to flip a LOT of Biden voters.
One thing I'm wondering about is whether or not we should expect some Democratic 2020 vote-my-mail voters to shift back into the Election Day pool because they're less worried about COVID now.
If so, the *Election Day* pool could be more favorable for Democrats than 2020.
Although initial returned ballots data in California (57% D, 22% I, 21% R) seems decent for Democrats, I think there's a possibility that current data may be a bit skewed and may actually be consistent with Republicans having a bit of an enthusiasm advantage.
THREAD (1/4) 🧵
It looks like there are many counties in California that are either not reporting or underreporting returned ballots data - these counties tend to be more rural and Republican-leaning than the state.
For example, Kern County (Trump +10) has barely reported anything yet.
(2/4)
If we focus only on counties where there *are* a substantial number of ballots returned, the comparison to an equivalent point in 2020 is not as rosy for Democrats.
In Los Angeles County, for example, there was a D+49 party advantage three weeks out but only D+43 now.
Of course, important to note that Republicans in California are both (i) more likely to return absentee ballots later on and (ii) vote in-person on Election Day.
Here's what the data trend looked like leading up to the 2020 general election:
In the 2020 general election, 87% of Californians who voted did so by mail. This may decrease for the recall (we saw this in the NYC Mayor primary), but CA tends to have high VBM rates (65% in 2018 and 58% in 2016). Ballots are now mailed to every active registered voter.
Overall I'm pretty happy with my final call that Adams had a slight advantage!
Originally had Garcia favored, but glad I flipped when I looked at the data and realized that the pro-Garcia absentee skew was probably not going to be as strong as my priors.
The surprise to me was that Garcia actually did worse among reallocated RCV absentee/provisional voters (61% - 39%) than she did among reallocated RCV in-person voters (65% - 35%).
This was because the absentee pool skewed more towards Yang than Wiley.