Examining the electorate

In the climax of last week’s ASUC tabulations ceremony in Wheeler Auditorium, deafening cheers erupted from one side of the room as CalSERVE swept all four partisan executive seats for the first time since 2008.

The other side of the room, filled with Student Action supporters, celebrated its seven senators-elect but was noticeably quieter. Though the party ran candidates for all but one partisan executive position, none were elected.

In a political system in which about one-fourth of the electorate changes yearly, public opinion can be unpredictable, and party lines often shift from year to year. It’s not clear how each of the approximately 12,000 voters in this year’s election came to his or her final decision, though students often echo popularly held ideas: Enough Facebook likes guarantee a spot in the senate, Student Action relies on the Greek system for support, and CalSERVE’s platforms aren’t tangible enough for some students.

As ballots were cast earlier this month, The Daily Californian conducted its first voter survey to better understand the motives and patterns behind voting behavior. We asked respondents to answer questions about candidates and campus issues, using demographic information to examine which of the popular speculations are based in fact.

More than 600 students, representing a wide range of campus constituencies, took the survey, providing a look into the issues, parties and candidates that resonate with various segments of the student body.

We found ASUC parties’ perceived identities largely matched their actual constituencies — individuals who identified with Student Action were more likely to be white and part of the Greek community, for example, and people who identified with CalSERVE represented to a greater degree the populations of first-generation students or students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning or asexual.