WCVI - Press Archive

Press Archive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 8, 2000

Gore Wins Latino Vote in California
Latino Voters Oppose Proposition 38 by Small Margin

Los Angeles, CA --An exit survey of 814 Latino voters conducted by the William C. Velásquez Institute (WCVI) throughout the state of California revealed that presidential preference was 80.7% for Al Gore/Joseph Lieberman, 18.8% for George W. Bush/Dick Cheney, and 0.5% for third party candidates, Ralph Nader and Patrick Buchanan. The support for Al Gore was consistent with a pre-election phone survey conducted by WCVI in October that showed Gore up 68% to 16%.

Latino voters also indicated strong Democratic preference for congressional candidates 75.9% to 24.1% for the Republican candidate. Both sets of numbers show small gains by the Republicans amidst Democratic predominance.

	1996	2000		1996	2000
D-Presidential Candidate	85%	81%	D-Congressional Candidate	84%	76%
R-Presidential Candidate	7%	19%	R-Congressional Candidate	13%	24%

Additionally, Latinos indicated opposition to Proposition 38 regarding school vouchers with 44% indicating voting in favor of the proposition to 56% opposed. Again, these numbers are consistent with an October '00 voter poll of Latino registered voters where Latinos indicated similar opposition to such a measure. Voter turnout will follow in the next release of Latino voter information.

The William C. Velásquez Institute conducted the exit poll to measure how Latinos voted during the November 2000 presidential elections. Trained interviewers in both English and Spanish administered the to 814 Latino voters in 29 California precincts. The sample design covered 90% of all Latino voters in the state. Precincts from 5% to 100% of registered Latino voters were included in the sample. The design is a stratified, two stage, probability-based sample. Precincts were included in the universe if they met minimum levels with respect to number and percentage of Latino voters. Precincts were than stratified by geography and percent Latino voter population. The voter poll touched on issues relevant to the Latino community which where either represented in the November election or are subject of ongoing local and national debate. The margin of error for this study is plus-minus 3.4%.