SANTA ANA, Calif. — Leading up to the primary election, the California Democratic Party has announced it will release new large-sample statewide polling surveys.
The results of the survey will be released every 7 to 10 days, beginning March 24, according to state party chairman Rusty Hicks.
Eight Democratic candidates are running to become the state’s next governor. The field also includes two Republican candidates.
Political analyst and Spectrum News contributor Mo’Kelly said the state party’s move to release polling now is “too little, too late because the filing deadline has passed.”
Kelly added that the more candidates in an election, “the more chaos, the more mayhem. And any anytime when you have a large field of candidates, those smaller candidates are going to take votes away from somebody.”
And he noted that with eight people in the same party running for the same office, “I believe the California Democratic Party missed the moment and should have seen this train wreck… coming before it actually happened. There should be no reason that you have this many candidates in a field, and then it could turn out and blow up in the face of the party.”
Mindy Romero, director of the USC Center for Inclusive Elections, explained that more candidates have the potential to increase the number of voters who take part in the primary election.
“More candidates, more money, more advertising. You’re just reminding people there’s an election and you have more people asking people to vote, which could in that sense potentially increase turnout,” she said.
But Romero also noted that it could add to confusion for voters who may not be familiar with the candidates, especially voters who may not be as familiar with the voting process.