A strong majority of California voters - including Democrats, Republicans and those with no party preference - agrees that candidates for president and for California governor should set defense of democracy and voting rights as a top priority, according to a new Berkeley IGS Poll released today (Friday, June 5).
Despite concerns about a difficult economy and international conflict, likely voters polled just before the June 2 primary election for California governor saw protecting democracy as their top issue, with 92% calling it important in shaping their candidate preference. That concern was strongly registered in every region of the state, and almost equally among all races and ages, and among women and men.
Meanwhile, registered voters were split about the risk of federal interference in California elections this year: More than 40% were not confident that elections would be free of such interference.
"These results suggest that California voters broadly want their state's leaders to prioritize protecting democracy and voting rights," said UC Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler, the co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) and the lead author of the new poll report. "The concern that American democracy is under threat has evidently gotten voters' attention and created the expectation that state officials will respond accordingly."
Last July, a Berkeley IGS Poll found that a large majority of Californians believed that U.S. democracy is "under attack" or facing serious challenges, and had little trust in political, business or tech leaders to protect the interests of state residents. Since then, political analysts have regularly warned of federal efforts to suppress voting, and the U.S. Supreme Court has further undermined the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The new poll suggests that voter worries persist - and the numbers are striking:
- 80% of likely voters said that "defending democracy and protecting voting rights" was very important in their vote for gubernatorial candidates, with another 12% saying those issues were somewhat important. Just 5% of likely voters rated this issue as not important. The worries were shared across partisan lines: 91% of Democrats, 62% of Republicans and 76% of those with no party preference. Defending democracy topped the list of high-visibility state issues among voter priorities, ahead of the cost of living, public school education, homelessness and crime.
- 74% of registered voters said democracy and voting rights are an important priority as they assess presidential candidates for 2028, with 63% calling the issues very important. A remarkable 95% of Democrats called the issues very or somewhat important, compared to 41% of Republicans and 71% of those with no party preference. Among Black and Asian American voters, 80% of voters agreed, along with 77% of Latinx voters.
- Only 27% of registered voters believe that state leaders are "doing enough to defend democracy in California," while 51% said state officials are not doing enough. This opinion was shared by 56% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats and 48% of those with no party preference.
"These numbers tell us that California voters are worried about what's at stake," said Dora Rose, deputy director of the non-partisan League of Women Voters of California. "They have recently witnessed the Supreme Court limiting federal voting rights protections and executive orders that could destabilize elections. With fewer federal protections, the responsibility now falls to the states."
In an interview, Schickler said the poll findings were somewhat surprising, especially given the widespread perception that Democratic candidates in recent elections did not benefit when they set democracy as a top campaign issue. The new numbers, he said, make clear that many voters "do not view it as a lower tier issue by any means."
These numbers tell us that California voters are worried about what's at stake.
Dora Rose, League of Women Voters of California
Still, Schickler said, while the poll numbers seem to suggest a convergence of Democratic and Republican opinion, deep divides remain just below the surface. While Republicans and Democrats both talk about protecting democracy, he said, they may be talking about completely different threats. And mostly, they perceive that their political opponents are the source of those threats.
"There is no question that most Democrats and GOP voters who say they worry about democracy are worried about different things - and are basically sharing in their party's narrative about where the threats come from," Schickler said.
A key signal: Among Republicans, 62% said worries about democracy and voting rights would shape their votes in the governor's race, but only 41% said the same about the 2028 presidential election.
Schickler explained that when Republicans consider threats to democracy in a national context, many perceive a criticism of Trump and then tend to deny that the threat is real. But he said that when these issues are considered as a California problem, where Democrats are in charge, GOP voters "are likely thinking about the various claims that Trump and other Republicans have made about voter fraud and so on, which they view - despite the lack of evidence - as threats to democracy."
The picture, however, is far from black and white. The IGS Poll found that 19% of the registered Republicans who worried about threats to democracy said that Trump was among the sources of threat, he said.
"Far more cited Democrats as the threat," Schickler added. "But this suggests that while, for the most part, Democrats and Republicans are defining threats to democracy in very different ways, there is at least a segment of Republicans who are not as far from Democrats as one might expect."
The new Berkeley IGS Poll was conducted online in English and Spanish, from May 19-25. It included 5,472 likely voters in the June 2 primary election, and 8,578 California registered voters in all. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies pursues a vigorous program of research, education, publication and public service. It is the oldest organized research unit in the UC system and the oldest public policy research center in the state.
