Poll in California Shows Strongly Favourable Ratings for Citizen Assemblies
Antony Hodgson
An interesting poll out of California shows that citizens think 4:1 that
it's a good idea to convene a voters' study group like the BCCA/OCA to
review the Californian electoral system. Seven times as many voters
would trust a CA recommendation than would trust one coming from
government. By almost 5:1, voters want the government to put a CA
proposal on the ballot (interesting that more voters want to have the
choice than currently are in favour of the idea - to me, this shows
trust in the voters!).
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/12/poll_shows_supp.html
http://www.newamerica.net/about/mission
"When asked: "Recently, Canada randomly selected 160 average voters to
participate in a year-long study of their election process. The meetings
were public and held at convenient times and the participants were paid.
At the conclusion, their recommendations to improve the election process
were put on the ballot for all voters to consider. Do you think it would
be a good idea for California to convene a voters’ study group like they
did in Canada?" 72.8% said it was a good idea versus 18.5% said it was
not a good idea. The results show highest support amongst "independents"
(80% to 13%), followed by Democrats (77% to 14%) and Republicans (65% to
27%)."
Cheers,
Tony Hodgson